Melty Blood heARTs
by Suzumiya Yuki
Summary: [TsukihimeMelty Blood reACT XOver]The ultimate battle btn the badest of the bad. All characters in Melty Blood reACT included.Pairings: ArcueidCiel, SatsukiSion, And many others. Yes, Yaoi too perhaps BETA version
1. Chapter 1

:**Melty Blood heARTS**:

By: _**Demon Eyes**_

**Disclaimer:** These characters belong to Type-Moon, not me.

**Important notes:** VSion Atlasia, White Ren Len, AkaAkiha Akiho and Boss Ciel Cial. And also, Ciel didn't return back into a human. Roa apparently had lied(?) Why the hell not. He is evil. 'RIN' is this adult magazine in Japan. I see torrents of it started at tokyotosho. And I am a fan too. Ke ke ke

**Act I**

Somewhere in the city of Misaki, in the many apartment complexes that inhabit it, there is just one that since a few days ago, its location having been discovered by a certain, dangerous(?) individual, the other occupants had started departing and it was now almost completely evacuated. The only reason that the others that were still inside were suffering the pain, was that they had trouble with their solicitors and thus they had to endure the harshness of the godly sounds coming from room number 707. This apartment belonged to a certain 17 year old student known only as Ciel. It had been so quiet before, that the neighbors almost thought it abandoned. But ever since a young foreigner- with short honey blonde hair, cheerful, white girls' shirt accompanied with a purple skirt and grey body stockings - was seen going to room 707, chaos started and this had been going on for the last three weeks. Said lady would come almost every three days and sounds like knives and things tearing and breaking started to boom all over the building. It was like an earthquake that was situated just and only under this building. Surprisingly, the building was never damaged. But those who valued their sleep were not for this building anymore so they decided to leave.

Ciel had just returned from school. It was 6:45pm by now. School was already out but being the captain of the one-member Tea Club, she had to stay behind. And besides, Tohno-kun had kept her company. It wasn't like she liked him or anything. He seemed to be in lack of a person you would go to for advice on something "and I'm a perfect candidate if I do say so myself", she tells herself. Shiki did have a lot of friends but they all seemed to want something more from him than friendship or giggle more than even brotherhood. Of course she couldn't blame them. When she fought him the first time, she sent information about him back to the church for research and Oh! There were results alright. But the one that is needed now is that he has a unique ability of attracting girls, even boys. But the boys seem to have ignored it. Lest they be made fun of. The girls on the other hand, had no Y chromosome and so they fell, hard. Well she too was a girl but she had had a great battle with her mind a long time ago and she can command her body to do anything now through the strengthened force of will. She hadn't mentioned that to anyone yet and it seems that Tohno-kun himself didn't know it. But it seemed that that Last Ancestor is starting to figure out something. Seeing as she spends even more less time with Tohno-kun than usual. 'At first she was so clingy that it even started to make me a little mad. But what's surprising is that when she isn't bothering him, she is always here ruining my days.'

'But to say spoiling would be a lie. Life has been really boring ever since Roa was defeated and the Evil Organization(If it exists) seemed to have gone underground(So to speak). Arcueid, that's the name of that beast, has been coming over here - I have to have a serious talk with Tohno-kun about giving away my address - for almost two weeks. She knows that me and her together alone means war but she has been coming over even regularly now. Since I am more alive when I fight and I don't have to think a lot, I am a little looking forward to these meeting of ours now. Thought little they are not.' "Nanako, are you here?" Nanako is Ciel's 7th scripture weapon given name by a classmate and best friend of Tohno-kun's, Arihiko. At first she was against the name but seeing that it meant a lot to the weapon, she agreed and now she was known as Nanako. "Here master. Welcome back." it looked like she had been sleeping. 'Well, not like she had anything to do.' "How was your day master?" Ciel takes off her shoes and goes into the living room. She puts her school bag down and flops in one of the sofas gracelessly. Nanako comes over and nuzzles her master's leg. Ciel pats her head and caresses her cheek and behind the ear. She closes her eyes feeling so bored that she almost falls to sleep right there until...

"Hmm...You are wearing white with black stripes today I see." Suddenly a voice is heard just there as if it was right in the same but opposite position to what Nanako was in. Ciel recognized that voice anywhere. It was Arcueid. The beast, how did she manage to get in her apartment? Then 'White with black stripes? Oh NO...' She jumps from the couch so fast to stand in it instead, her hands protectively over her short blue school skirt that poor Nanako is knocked in the chin and sent flying over the living room to crash in the cupboard. "When...What...How did you get in here?" Ciel really embarrassed that she was caught with her under wear showing was all red and a little raced due to the fact that she was snuck upon when her defenses were down. Indeed Arcueid was there squatting right in front of the couch where Ciel had been almost defeated by the sand man. She had a wide grin on her face and her hands supporting her head. Blood red eyes closed to make the smile wider and a cheery "Yaho Ciel" came forward as a greeting. Ciel grabbed at her racing heart to calm it down and got down from the couch to stand a little ways away from this creature. Though Arcueid kept insisting that she won't drink blood, it was in her nature and it would come over her so hard, she won't have a say in the matter. Better safe than sorry, she told herself.

Arcueid saw this and frowned a little. Despite how many times she had said it or avoided it when she was overcome, Ciel always was ready for her to drink human blood. She had lived for centuries for crying out loud. If she resisted that long, how could she start now? This actually made her a little angry to the Burial Agent before her. She even saved her once. Not only didn't she receive thanks, but now she couldn't even help her with her most feared nightmare of drinking human blood, because if she were to do that, there would be no more True Ancestors. They would all be fallen. 'She really is insensitive', thought Arcueid. "I came in through the window. It seems you were too air-headed to close it this time. Not my fault really." She smiled now having succeeded in making Ciel a little edgey. She looked ready to draw the Black Keys. Arcueid smiled. 'It wouldn't be long now before she charges.' She put her senses to the MAX in case Ciel decided to go now. But she was sure she had to save her pride first. And so, she watched as the fiery Navy-haired girl turn towards the winded Weapon.

"I am not air headed." Ciel shouted back. "NANAKO. I warned you not to open windows when I'm not here." She was answered by a sobbing Nanako and many apologies. She groaned. How dare this monster come into her home and start making fun of her? Ciel drew her Black Keys. Four blades between her left hand and three in her right. She is so furious right now at Arcueid for some reason. Arcueid in turn was a little angry at Ciel for always going on how she will eventually feed on humans. That was Arcueid's nightmare and for Ciel to speak of it so casually made her angry. Ciel threw the blades to Arcueid who dodged four and thrashed at the three to cut them in pieces with her shadow claws which went straight for Ciel. Having anticipated this, Ciel had jumped to the upper wall behind her and launched another set of blades at Arcueid, leaving three diagonal slash-like holes in the lower wall on which she had clung. She uses her legs to gain the force to hurl her self to Arcueid, a fist raised. They collided together. Ciel's fist connecting with Arcueid's face and receiving a blow to the abdomen that was waiting for her with regards from Arcueid. Many blows are exchanged by the time they hit the ground from the force exerted by Ciel's zooming from the walls.

The only remaining neighbors having prayed for the thousandth time, only to be denied their wish of quietness, thought it high time they too, made their exit in tears as had the previously departed. Said earthquake had begun again in this area. Back to the room, the two female warriors are still at it and this time, Ciel was no longer in yellow and blue but in complete blue and a little white. She was no longer in a skirt too but a dress with a cross at the middle of the collar bone. It was almost in threads though. As was Arcueid's clothing. They were in a stalemate position waiting for the next round. Though it seemed they had been going at it for quite some time, they looked no where near shedding a bead of sweat or panting. It was as if they had just started. Were it a normal fight, they would be just that but the speed at which they were fighting, for a normal person to fight that hard would have to spend a day fighting. This time it was Arcueid who went first. She seemed to varnish and re-appear right next to Ciel. By the time the eye keeps up with the super fast girl, a knee has already connected with Ciel's chin and she is lifted back in the air. Arcueid doesn't seem to be done though, as she follows with a back-handed, upper-cut shadow claw. Three times. Ciel is a little dazed after that but she will be damned if she fell down that easily.

Ciel flips in mid-air and grabs Arcueid who had spent her free air momentum and hurled her towards the ground, hard. Having used Arcueid's body, to gain more force, she came down after her opponent blades at the ready and skewered her, landing on the floor coolly thereafter. But that's all the time the True Vampire needed to heal and Ciel found herself being cut through by chains that seemed to appear out of nowhere. She wasn't hurt too badly as Arcueid never seemed to be out for the kill. And using her immortality to good advantage, she healed a little too. But her gloves were off now. She summons Nanako and shades her dress to change yet again into another one. Much shorter and sleeveless this time. Glowing tattoos of crosses and feathers appear on her skin. Nanako in her hands, this time not in human-like form as before, but in a weapon. The 7th Scripture. No one has ever faced it and lived except Arcueid of course. This would explain why she was using it even now. Not that she aimed to use its true abilities. Her fights with Arcueid were all like training, as odd as that sounded. She ran towards Arcueid at unexpected speed and drove the spike like bullets into Arcueid's belly, finishing off with a final bigger bullet this time that went off with a loud BANG which would've given some sleeping people a heart attack. Thankfully, all other tenants were already evacuated.

Arcueid's body flew backwards to crash thought the glass doors and was saved from falling towards the below by the veranda railings. All was quiet for a moment until some kind of fizzling sound was heard coming from the hunched over body on the shade. Ciel looked up after returning into her longer blue dress, with sleeves and swallowed. It looked as if some kind of aura, deadly aura was emitting from Arcueid's body. When she looked up, Ciel felt something akin to fear and thought maybe she had overdone it this time? Arcueid's normally red eyes had turned an eerily gold. Glowing gold. She took a step back. "Arcueid? Something wrong?" She asked nervously. Upon hearing her name called perhaps, Arcueid blinked. And the aura and golden eyes disappeared. Ciel took a sigh of relief. 'Safe'. " I am sorry if I went a little too far." Then she registered what she had just said. "What am I saying? It's my job to take you down. Especially since you evaded my home like this." Why was she on the defensive? To justify what she had done? Was she getting soft?

Arcueid was getting really tired of this. She had been ready to get really serious for a while there. If Ciel had kept on going...She didn't even want to think about it. She had used quiet an amount of will power to revert back to normal. Yet here she was, this puppet for the Burial Agency acting all arrogant. "Listen to me Ciel, we both know that it's your jurisdiction to take me down, but only when I fall. And as it seems, I haven't yet but you insist on eradicating me. If you had the power, I don't think I should even still be alive. You would've killed me way back." She smiles a confusing smile that Ciel can't quite place. "And you also know that I have the power, more than have in fact, to kill you. Yet, all these times you decide it's time for me to leave this world and we fight, you always live." Ciel was about to put in that Arcueid can't kill her since she is immortal and that she can't be killed but was stopped by the wave of a hand. "Yeah, yeah. Your immortality from hence you were the bearer of Roa. I know. I can't tell you my secret, only Shiki knows, but I will tell you one thing. It's what I used to help Shiki defeat Warakia." She sees a familiar expression rise in Ciel's blue orbs and smiles. "So you see, I can kill you anytime I want, but I don't." She turns to leave for now since her 'torment the church-puppet time' is over. At least for today.

"Why?" Ciel hadn't thought of that at all. She knows the extent of a True Ancestor's power. She had read all about them just before she was sent out into 'the hunt'. She also knows how she was saved once upon a time. The way she was saved..."Why don't you ever get serious in a fight? I know you use minimum power in your Marble Phantasm. Even just now. Why? Do you mock me!" Ciel who had started out in a low voice of discovery, was now on the verge of heated anger. Arcueid who had started to walk towards the broken glass door to fix it using her Phantasm that she uses to manipulate space, stopped in her stride. Breaths held for the moment of truth. Arcueid then continued on but Ciel as though sure that an answer was to come, stood patiently until Arcueid fixed the glass, then the room and turned towards the veranda. Sliding the glass door open to go in the now pitch black night, she paused to let her reasons known. A strong wind blew to prevent anyone else except Ciel to hear what was said. She couldn't see Arcueid's face, but she knew the answer to be true. She was still standing there 2 mins later after Arcueid was long gone. When she got her thoughts back to the land of the living, she hadn't even noticed that her heart was running at a never before recorded rate. Nanako off to the side was all confused as to what was said to make her master act like she was.

(Same time at The Tohno Mansion)

Tohno Shiki was lying in his bed, reading the recent issue of 'RIN'. His mind wasn't in it as it was occupied by other thoughts. He rarely slept with Arcueid these days. His inner self was trying even more than usual to slice Arcueid into tiny bits. It was good that Arcueid was more than ready for him these days and so, he always came back with a few 'black eyes' much to the horrors of his sister Akiha. And these past days, Arcueid was more than away from her apartment. He wondered where she went off to since he searched her normal hide outs and she was no where to be found. Then again, Ciel-sempai no longer stopped by their house if Arcueid wasn't there. Perhaps they were fighting again. Ren too seemed to spend more time in Kohaku's company these days, and they always returned with a grinning Kohaku and a smiling Ren. He groaned. He wasn't jealous or anything. Or so he tried to tell himself. Before, Ren would spend the days with him. Keeping him company whenever he was away from Arcueid, but now even Hisui wasn't around much. It seemed that they were getting way closer to him than he wanted but now, it was as if they were avoiding him. Well, Kohaku wasn't avoiding him. More like too obsessed with her freaky experiments, but still.

He closed the mag, hid it under his mattress and decided to go look for Hisui-chan or Akiha. He decided to go look for Akiha in the living room meaning to catch her drinking her tea again. When he got there, he found Hisui instead. She was cleaning about a bit, though the place looked brand new. Hisui looked up and was started a little at Shiki's appearance there. She had changed since he had come back here. She seemed to be livelier now. "Shiki-san!" At least she had dropped the -sama. Though it took forever for that to happen, it finally happened. Kohaku actually thanked him one night when she came into his room. He really wasn't sure of what he had done, but if it was something that received that much gratitude from a person like Kohaku, then he wasn't going to argue. "Ah, Hisui. Are you busy right now? I am bored and lonely and was looking to do something with someone. Of course if you are, since it seems you're cleaning, I will go and see if Akiha is free right now." Hisui seemed to perk up at that. "No. No, I am finished here anyway. I had nothing to do either so I decided to do some cleaning while I wait for dinner." She fidgeted a little. "Was there anything in particular you wanted to do Shiki-san?"

He thought about it. What would they do that would both enjoy. He thought hard. or so it seemed. "Play a game." He decided. "Poker, then Scrabble perhaps? That will take us till dinner time." He was actually glad that Hisui was free right now. he didn't want to ever go back to Akiha's room uninvited since last time. The thought of it brought that scene he had scene back to the fore of his mind. 'Hmm, maybe another accident wouldn't be so bad.' He thought to himself. Too bad Kohaku was preparing dinner in the kitchen with Ren right now and not in there. Oh well, at least he was going to play with Hisui-chan. Hisui went over to the study/library room and brought out the scrabble board, its accompanying huge dictionary and a deck of cards back to the living room. She set the Scrabble Board down first as they had decided to play that first. The first set of chips were drawn. Dictionary set down and Hisui being as she made her master before, urged Shiki to go first. only Shiki was a gentleman and he wanted her to go first. After a few of indecisions going on, Hisui-chan finally gave in and went first. A couple of minutes later, Shiki was to wonder how a person who spent all her time at home, would have his hide in Scrabble. Later when they switched to poker, he only escaped defeat by 10-8 wins. He made a note to thank Arihiko tomorrow at school because, it was due to his constant talking him into going to the arcade that he got good at it. But since Hisui really looked like she was having fun, he decided to let his pride slide this once.

At dinner, Shiki was trying really hard not to look in Akiha's face. When dinner was served, Hisui was still happy from her playing with Shiki that everyone around noticed it. Ren seemed to not be paying attention as she was so immersed in eating her favorite food. Akiha was giving him the all killing gaze he received often whenever he stayed late to fool around with Arcueid, as Akiha had put it. Kohaku's expression was way scarier that his sister's as she had on that disturbing grin on her face. And what was that shiny thing he saw gleaming under the table? Gulp. "So, Nii-san, what exactly were you and Hisui doing in our absence?" He swallowed again. "Your answer shall determine the future of your safety." She finished off with a smile of her own after an exchange of glances between her and Kohaku. 'Since when is Akiha into Kohaku's hobbies?' He asked himself and thanked the Almighty that he was eating food, or else he would surely run out of saliva to swallow. Luckily, he was saved by Hisui-chan whom he wanted to kiss right at that moment. "Shiki-san was bored and I had just finished my chores for the day so I decided to suggest a game to pass the time until dinner." She didn't say it was Shiki that suggested the game. 'Safe'. "Oh? How come I wasn't invited?" Asked Akiha. 'Why wouldn't she leave it at that? She had to go too deep into this as usual.' "Well Akiha, since last time, I never wanted to disturb you when you were busy. I thought that since you spend most of your time reading or drinking tea in the living room or the porch, then you would need privacy if you went to your room." 'Whew, she seemed to take that.'

After dinner, Akiha went to the living room and Kohaku delivered the tea for her, Shiki and Ren. They had decided to play together after dinner but they had to wait for Hisui to finish up cleaning the utensils they had used for dinner. Kohaku having finished preparing and serving the tea, went to help her younger sister to finish up quickly. "Nee-san, you don't have to help out. You spent a lot of time preparing our meal that you have to be tired. Let me take care of this. I will manage." Never the less, Kohaku continued to the sink and took a towel to help dry the things Hisui was washing. "Don't say that Hisui-chan, you do all the cleaning around the house and that is by standard more work than preparing meals, and you know that I will be there to help you as long as you need help, though, my cleaning skills are at the level of a college dorm male student Fu Fu Fu." Hisui smiled a genuine smile a little touched. "Nee-san." A little silence and, "anyway, it was Shiki-san that suggested the game, wasn't it? Don't worry, I am actually happy. He has helped bring back your smiles that you lost since those days. It's as if when he left, your smile left with him, thus when he returned, so did your smile." All the washing was finished by teasing poor Hisui-chan, who was thinking of getting her revenge sometime soon. Yes, sweet revenge.

The inhabitants of the infamous Tohno mansion played until 23:00hrs which was two hours over their set curfew. It seems like it was so much fun that even Akiha-sama never noticed until Kohaku reminded them of school the next day. It was too bad no body got the chance to beat Ren. 'This devil', smiled Shiki as he carried Ren in her cat form to his bedroom. She seemed really tired now and she was going into slumber. 'She beat us even though she was this tired? How will we ever get a chance were she not?' He entered his room and set down Ren in her specially made bed. It seemed Akiha was really against him sleeping in the same bed with another creature in this house. He decided to put his masterful arts to good use and even spend some time on a project by making it himself. Of course he had to buy all the ready made equipment and all he did was set it up. He tucked Ren in and spent a few seconds gazing at the sleeping feral bundle of black far before he went to changing into his night clothes(which of course meant stripping to his boxers) and went to lie down. He left the window open for a couple of mins hopping that weirdly cheerful vampire would drop in. After waiting for a known time, he closed the window, replaced the curtains and went to sleep. The lights in the mansion all went off.

(Down town that same time)

Two girls walked in comfortable silence heading home that night. They had decided to go out to the movies and see the latest horror flick that had just screened. it was so well made that it left them speechless. That is until one of them, A High School Girl that looked to be still in Middle instead with brown(almost chocolate in the dark) hair tied up into two side-top pony tails, decided to break the silence. "Awesome." Was her complete summary on the movie they have just seen. Her name was Satsuki Yumizuka. Her counterpart smiled at the awestruck remark of her friend. She was a bit taller than Satsuki. Dressed in a purple short sleeved shirt meeting a short white skirt. She had on a hat that had the same color as her shirt. On the hat and shirt were engraved a yellow cross. She was Sion Eltram A. An alchemist from the Mages' Association situated in Egypt. She had something spectacular in common with Satsuki and thus, had become fast friends at their first (real) meeting. They had talked about lots of things about each other and were getting closer still. Satsuki was in lack of girl friends and it was something that she really needed now that she had a big secret that she couldn't even tell the person she admired the most her self.

It was Sion that mentioned it to Shiki and that was after she had asked Satsuki if it was okay to tell him. She was afraid of what Tohno-kun would say, but all he did was ask if she was okay. She was so touched that she started crying in the cafeteria. All the students were looking their way but were saved when they were joined by Ciel-sempai who seemed to be able to change subjects as easily as she made tea(?). Since then, she had been telling all her secrets to Sion, who also did the same. Her whole life she never had a friend at all. Everyone was so envious of her gifts that turned into overzealous idiots. When she met Satsuki, it was like, 'it's cliché, but I can't think of anything to describe it' thought Sion, it was like a destined meeting. They started doing things together mostly during the nights or weekends when Satsuki didn't have school. They had had too much fun today too. At the moment, they were heading for Satsuki's house to drop her off then Sion would go to her apartment. "Thanks for coming with me today too Sion. Before, all I did was go straight home as the only friends I had were Tohno-kun and Inui-kun. But they enjoyed different thing from what I do, and you too." She was really glad to have met Sion. She hoped those words were enough to put forward her gratitude. Sion was already prepared to say that it was her pleasure too to have Satsuki's company, but then her senses tingled as they were being watched by someone.

In front of then was a junction but they couldn't see in the corners as they seemed to be guided by darkness itself. Sion got on alert and put herself in front of her friend. "Who is there?" She asked. "Show yourself." She pulled out her gun from its resting place at her back. A familiar laugh came forward, accompanied by the shadows that seemed to move. Upon the revelation of the owner of the 'Oh so familiar' laugh, Sion almost dropped her gun in disbelief. There before her, was the last person she thought she would ever see or wanted to never see, again. "Y...You! It's you! But...How!" Her mind was in shambles as there before her own eyes in all his glory, looking not at all like a spawn from the world beyond, was her ancestor, her worst nightmare and arch nemesis - Warakia. "Ho? You don't seem very pleased to see your 'maker' again Sion-chan. Maybe I shouldn't have made you one of us after all." He spoke so non-challantly. Very out of character from the way he was last time Sion saw him. It's like the Warakia here is one from long ago when he was still human. Before she was able to answer, she was shocked yet again, to see someone else who isn't supposed to be among those who walk the earth this day. "Warakia, we have to go. We got what was asked of us and orders were to not let 'them' see us before the time was right."

It was another of the Dead Apostles just like Warakia. And also just like his now partner, he too should be dead. 'WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?' Sion seemed to be going mad. "Yeah yeah. Be a spoil spot why don't you." Warakia said to the being known as Chaos before turning to Sion. "Well Sion-chan, our reunion must end it seems, but rest assured, we will meet again. Very soon." And before Sion could finish a "Wait", they disappeared in the shadows. She was so confused and didn't know what to do but when she looked at Satsuki and saw that she too was in disbelief, she knew it was all happening. "Trouble. We are in deep trouble." She got out her cell phone and made a speedy to Shiki. After a few rings, a sleepy Shiki answered, "Tohno Shiki speaking. Hello?" "Shiki. It's Sion. We have trouble. Very big trouble."

(Somewhere at the edge of Misaki town)

A figure with very long gleaming red hair is seen standing on the high landscape overlooking the town of Misaki, slashing a white T-Shirt and blue jeans. In her hand is a large old century suite case. The other hand on her hip. "Whew. I hope I made it in time. Please be okay boyar."

To be Continued...

**A/N:** Fu fu fu. Am I evil or what? At least I think. I hope I didn't rush through this one much. At any rate, this is a Fan Fic for Melty Blood fans. I am unable to go into microscopic details because I am not a creator, but a FAN. Yes, JUST a fan.


	2. Chapter 2

:Melty Blood heARTS:

By Demon Eyes

Disclaimer: Characters...Yada yada yada...Type-Moon.

Notes: Okay, Walachia, or whatever, will be referred to as Walakia in here. Ciel will call Kohaku, Kohaku-san which is logical since she calls Hisui, Hisui-san. And the rest unknown as they are called. Thanks.

Act II

(Apartment 707)

't was around midnight and Ciel was getting ready for bed. She had just taken a shower before with an uncooperative Nanako. Water was the elfin's worst enemy, or so she would claim at every bath. Ciel wished she would think of the aftermath since she always looked blissful afterwards. Ciel dressed in her pajamas and went to lie in the bed which was situated in a different room to the sitting room. Her apartment was big enough that she had almost three rooms, counting the bathroom too. The entrance was at one end of the only corridor in the apartment and at the other end, the sitting room. In the corridor, was the door to the big bedroom and the door to the bathroom was in the bedroom. The sitting room was divided into two parts by a ceramic link which was used as a little bar for the kitchen. The place called the kitchen was more of a cooking area but Ciel had made 'changes' to it to look like a real kitchen for her inconveniency in preparing her favorite dishes.

Nanako was using the bedroom system now playing a game called something like Xenosaga Episode III. It was some RPG about a CY weapon. Maybe the reason why she likes it a lot. Ciel would look on sometimes since the action was a little interesting. She likes action. But this wasn't one of those times. She was dead tired thanks to that weird Ancestor. Ciel wondered why she just started to bug her all of sudden. Before, she was really trying to avoid her but now, it looked like she was seeking her out or something. After a little inner thinking, Ciel now seemed really glad that she didn't start coming to their school to look for her like she did with Tohno-kun. 'Did' being the key word here. A week before Arcueid started coming to her apartment, she had stopped coming to school for Shiki's company. Since then, she has been paying 'unwanted' visits to her home and always leaving after a fight. Now that Ciel though about it, Arcueid seemed to come for 'fights' and when she got one, she left. If she didn't get one, she made sure to get it by invoking Ciel by calling her a dog of the church or other things.

Ciel didn't know why she always fell for it. Arcueid, though Ciel didn't want to admit it, was a lady...with manners. She never let her mouth run wild all the times Ciel knew her except now. And not just language. She was full of etiquette. Probably due to all her title or life time. You wouldn't think that Ciel was of the norm with the way she behaved; like today's tech driven teenagers. It was this innocent behavior that never let Ciel go all out with Arcueid even though that is what she is expected of by the Burial Agency. Whenever she is engaged in battle with her, Ciel feels like she is doing something unjustified, but then she remembers all those years ago how she had decided to have her penance and anger always comes to her from grief which overtakes her senses. The fact that she was saved by Arcueid too from Roa, didn't make matters any less complicated, and Arcueid knew that hence the mentioning it during every fight. What is more interesting, now that she thinks about it, is that Arcueid always brought that tad bit up after she lost her cool in the fight. This would seem like she was being saved somehow but Ciel wasn't buying it. Yet.

When she mentioned Roa's name, the memories of those terribly horrible four Centuries came to Ciel's fore mind. She decided to stop this line of thought as it was starting to make her depressed. She turned on her bed to watch her partner play games. Nanako was furiously working the pad with her eyes glued to the screen as if her life depended on it. Ciel looked to the TV and saw the chaos that was going on. Mysteriously, the girl was hitting life points like a winner in a casino. Shortly after the Shiki-Roa fiasco Ciel had a lot of time on her hands and so she decided to 'upgrade' Nanako, so to speak and give her normal meta-carpals and tarsal. This is the reason now that someone who had hoofs for fingers and feet, was able to hold keypad and successfully play games. It was a complicated task, but to a talented enchanted expert like her, it was a piece of cake to Ciel. Well, to be able to give a weapon as infamous as the 'Seventh Scripture' form in a person, better yet wield it, requires the wielder to be a first class magic user.

The phone rang through the room as Ciel was still watching the spectacle of a weapon playing a video game. It was situated right besides their bed so all Ciel did was lean over and grab it from the side board on her right. She gestured for Nanako to turn down the volume as she brought the ear piece to its destination. "Hello. This is Ciel speaking. How may I help you?" She wondered who would be calling in this middle of the night. The voice on the other end would've made her curiosity fly out the window were the voice not a little urgent in tone. "Hello Ciel-sempai. So sorry to disturb you this late but we have problems. Big problems." "What's wrong Tohno-kun? Are you alright?" She asked wondering if someone invaded the Tohno mansion. "I am fine sempai. I don't have the details too but come meet us to the entrance of the park. Sion said to meet her there immediately so that she can explain what is going on." A pause. "I just called Arcueid too. Could you pass by her apartment since it's on the way and come together please? I asked her to wait for you." Ciel knew he just wanted to make sure Arcueid went. "Well, see you soon sempai." He hangs up and Ciel is left with a beep which she shuts out by replacing the phone head.

Ciel really was looking forward to a nice long weekend nap but since there was trouble, and if Sion says it's serious, then the nap can wait. She got up from the bed and stood up starting for the door. Nanako somehow sensing the atmosphere, turned off the game and stood up too. She knew her master was leaving on business and she might be needed, and she was right. Her master turned to her to confirm her conclusion that they were indeed heading out, and so she did the usual as she left her human-like form to join her master as a protective attire of her master. It was the usual colors of white and blue, and by the time Ciel reached the shoe area, just before each foot touched the lower floor at the door, it was protected by flexible battle boots. Ciel turned the door and closed it behind her after exiting through it. She didn't bother with the list down. She just took off the floor she was on and headed east towards Arcueid's apartment at inhuman speeds above ground, using electricity cables and then lamp posts as her stepping grounds.

(Arcueid's residential area)

By the time she reached the Princess' aboard, which was just five minutes actually needed to travel six kilometers, Arcueid was leaning on a near by house fence, arms folded over her chest and looking towards the moon. She looked lost in thought with a disturbing expression on her face. Ciel didn't know why but she found herself compelled to watch this woman who was the number one of all women or la grande femme, so to speak. She was so taken that she didn't notice that Arcueid was no longer watching the enchanting full moon and was now watching her with an amusement of a sort. "Oh Ciel. You are here. Are you getting sloppy, because you sure took your time getting here." Se asked Ciel with a raised eyebrow. Smile on her lips. Ciel caught staring, got a little embarrassed but she was glad that Arcueid decided not to comment on it. She turned to hide her colored cheeks in part to leave and said,"Oh get off it." The best retort she could master at the moment. "Come on. Let's go." Unlike before, this time she didn't take off. Instead she walked knowing Arcueid will come walk with her to their destined meeting point.

The walk to the park was irritatingly silent to Ciel and to Arcueid, surprisingly seeing as she was always so cheerful. Of course all this stopped a few weeks ago. Ciel saw an opening to strike up a conversation. "So anyway what's going on with you and Tohno-kun? I've noticed that you no longer come to school to spend time with him." Not bug him, since she knows too what things are important. Her tone was not missing the said point which might explain why Arcueid started answering her question. She was sure in normal circumstances, she would be receiving a 'none of your business' line. Actually, this is what Ciel was hoping would be the reply but when Arcueid brought the truth out to her, she knew not of what to say to make the truth barer feel a little better. "Hmm, I would never have guessed you would figure out something was amiss. I actually wanted someone to know about it so that, you know, I might talk to them about it. No one knows much about me like you do. Not even Shiki actually. We never talk about stuff like our lives and all that. This is actually why things are not looking so good. I wanted to talk to you about it but I will never come to you for help." So says Arcueid as she turns a smile to Ciel.

"Well, sorry to break it to you, but you have already come to me for help. All these times you've come to my place to fight I think it's because you wanted to relieve some pressure on your relationship hardships." Returns Ciel with a matching grin. "Okay okay. Anyway, we are not coping. We have never sat down and had a personal conversation. We always talk about unrelated topics. The only time we talked about ourselves was back when we first met. I asked him about his eyes and he told me briefly about them and how he met Blue. Nothing more than that. I also told him about the basic stuff about myself of who I am and that was the end of that. At first, I thought that we really didn't need all that stuff, that we could do without them but recently, it feel like we just came together like as in 'opposites attract' kind of way. Now even that is starting to fade." "What? You mean you have been together when you don't love each other?" Ciel was quite surprised, much to Arcueid's confusion.

"I told you, it was attraction. But now it's starting to fade and even if I know Shiki knows it too, I don't think he is ready for it to be voiced. I wanted too, to first talk to someone first before I told Shiki that we weren't going to work out. I might be making a mistake. After all, I've lived for almost one millennium but I've never been in love. This is my fist time even being attracted to someone and who knows, we might make it happen." Ciel though was a little apprehensive of Shiki and Arcueid's relationship because she was caring for Shiki's life, found that it was actually Arcueid who was, to put it simply, 'the underdog' of this relationship. For crying out loud, how innocent can someone get! Ciel knows that Arcueid isn't ignorant of the 'mature' ways but this was extreme. 800 years without a love life? Even Ciel had been in a relationship before the Roa incident. A thought came to her and even for this situation, it was too tempting to pass.

"So, you are an 800 year old virgin? Or was?" She teased the Princess walking beside her. Arcueid knew it was a joke so she laughed a little too. "Well? What should I do?" Arcueid asked Ciel for her advice in a soft tone. The Executer thought about this deeply. She knew whatever she said would be the decisive action to Arcueid's choice. Judging by Arcueid's situation, she would normally be in favor of the relationship without any doubts, but since she went to the extremes of avoiding Shiki, even if it was to buy time, this was a bad sign. She made up her mind. "Well, I think it's high time you spoke with Tohno-kun about this. This is very important and the outcome of that conversation should clear your thoughts and give you the answers to your choice; whether to break it up, or deepen it." She thought that it was a good choice of words. It was up to them ultimately to stop their relationship on their own. Arcueid having had the time to analyze the advice she was given, shook her head in agreement and thanked Ciel for her help. She joked about her and Ciel being best friends to which Ciel answered a 'Not a chance Vampire' as they neared the group of the others at the entrance of the park and by the looks of it, they were all present and counted for.

(The Misaki Park Entrance)

"You are late Arcueid-san, Ciel-san." It was Akiha of course. She still didn't get along with Ciel. No body, not even Ciel herself was really sure why Shiki's sister was like that towards her. It can't be blamed on her actions the other time in the park on their first meeting since it seemed even before that, Akiha said literally that she will never get along with 'this woman' as she put it. Of course on the other hand, everybody knew why Arcueid was on the fiery girl's black list. Shiki. Apparently, Arcueid stole her dear brother away from her. They still live in the same house but after spending all those years separated from her brother, a girl can become quite possessive. "Yaho, Imouto-san. Shiki, and everyone. Surely you can spare a few seconds can't you?" She answered as she bent to pick up Ren who had come over to be given a piggy ride. She seemed to be fond of Arcueid and vise versa. "If you can't, well, you will have to ask Ciel here. She is the one who took forever to come to my place." Damn that Arcueid. Ciel had just helped her and here she was saying this. "Is that it Ciel-san?" It was Kohaku. The eldest twin and maid at Akiha's mansion. Her sister Hisui, the quiet one as usual, just turned her head in Ciel's direction. Ciel saw something devious in those golden eyes of Kohaku's and knew of what was brewing in them. She gave a glare to Arcueid. "No comment."

"Good evening Tohno-kun, Akiha-san, Hisui-san, Kohaku-san, Yumizuka-san and Sion. Sorry we are a little late. What's the emergency?" Everyone looked a little disappointed(?) perhaps hoping that the two had been in a fight as usual. Only Kohaku knew, somehow, that it wasn't because of that that they were late. Sion got in position where everyone could see her and after she saw that she had everyone's complete attention, she began to tell them what she had witnessed before with Satsuki. When she finished, everyone was in shock obviously except Satsuki who knew of it already. "But, but me and Arcueid killed both of them. I am sure we killed them. How could they be alive!" it was Shiki who had was the first to recover and ask everyone's question. Sion didn't have an answer to that. Of all those present, she was the one most affected by Walakia's return. And an agent as she was however, had some insight on the matter. "By the way they were acting and a 'him' Chaos was referring to, would point to the choice that they are planning something. We should also assume that there are more people involved that the three we know of."

"You are right. It seems they are working together, perhaps in a group and up to anything but good." Akiha agreed. Everyone was waiting for more comments, and perhaps something from Shiki, who was for some reason taken as the leader. He coughed as he made his decision. " We should investigate this matter seriously. Tomorrow at 6pm, we meet here again and we will split into groups to investigate around town for clues. Ask any contacts you have. Anymore on the plan, will be tomorrow. For now, we should all go get some sleep. I for one have had a tiresome school week and need to rest." Eyes were rolled. He never does any activities at school but no one mentions that. " Anything you want to add Arcueid? Ciel-sempai?" He asks. Both heads shake a 'no'. "Okay. Let's go home everyone." As everyone starts to leave, he turns to Arcueid. "Erm, Arcueid, could we talk before you go please? In private." he added as he saw Akiha and the twins stop. The rest went with Ren walking beside Hisui and Ciel taking off in the sky. The silence left behind was felt a mile away and Ciel hoped that Arcueid will not lose resolve.

(Outside the Tohno Mansion)

A very grumpy Akiha, Hisui, Ren and Kohaku were on their way back home. Akiha spent all the way back wondering what her brother wanted to talk to that woman about. It looks like the little time they had had without Arcueid was over. She sighed in frustration and a few seconds later, an innocent branch in front of them was reduced to dust in an instant by a bizarre flicker of flames. Akiha didn't give the stares she got notice, not that she had a choice as an alien voice had called her senses to the Tohno mansion gate which they didn't know they were near yet due to Akiha's weird moods. "Whoa girl, maybe I should come another time. It doesn't seem safe here." At their gate, there was standing a young woman who looked like she had just receded the teens. In the night neon lights, she looked to have hair that would put Akiha's red skirt to shame during the day. Long too, almost reaching her calves and accompanied by a violet cap. A black leather jacket over what looked to be a white T-shirt. She was carrying a huge suitcase that she was still holding even as she looked to be going no where. "Hi, my name is Aoko. Is Shiki here?" Everybody on this earth would've paid whatever it took to learn of what was going on in Akiha's mind at that moment.

(Some place Unknown)

The room is dark, making it very difficult in determining its location. Only one candle, held by an individual sitting in a chair was the only source of light. By the looks of it, this person was the leader of the many silhuettes seen in the dim light of the candle. Not even this most holy of sources of light, could pierce the darkness emitted by the wielder. His voice could be heard from all over the room as if the walls them selves were his lips. "Well, did you get the item I asked you get , Chaos and Walakia?" he asked without his head moving. One of the figures situated around in a semi circle in front of the speaker spoke up. "Yes. Here it is." An object is seen floating from one of the figures to the man with the candle. No movements were made to determine which of the figure was holding it. "Excellent. This will be enough for one more. I will need a lot of this product to be able to successfully complete this one. He will be your leader, so you better look forward to my ultimate creation. Once he is among us, then we can move on to our plan. Go back to your rooms now until farther notice. I have to think." The silhouettes that were now made up to be eight, left as if dissolving into the darkness and the candle man was left alone staring at the tube with a wide grin which would be made out because of his unnaturally white teeth. "Magnificent. It's time for you to be born anew and carry out what you were meant to do, My Brother.

A HAH HA HA HA HA HA HA"

To be continued...


	3. Chapter 3

:Melty Blood heARTs:

By Demon Eyes

Disclaimer: Sadly, Kohaku and the others don't belong to me but Type-Moon

Act III

(The Tohno Mansion)

Akiha Tohno, the mistress of the mansion in which everyone around was now in, was quietly sipping at her tea. An air of calm all around her but that would be far from the truth. Inside she was seething. Just as she had thought her dear brother's 'women list' was at the end, after all these days succeeding the 'night of Wallachia,' that there possibly couldn't be any more names to the list. Girl was she wrong! Here in front of her, was a younger woman. She looked to be in her mid twenties with fiery red hair and emitting off vibes that screamed 'knowledge' and 'experience'. But for some reason, this time Akiha was not apprehensive about the woman sitting across from her but to what exactly her brother is up to when she is not with him to end up with all these abnormal women. Why oh why, can't she just once be met with guy friends of his? Well, that Arikiho guy wasn't so bad. He knew respect, which Akiha loved in a few people that had that. She put the cut elegantly down at the table and decided to get this over with. "So, you say you know my brother, how exactly? Because he hasn't mentioned you yet if you are as important as I think you think you are to him." 'Down girl,' she scolded herself.

The said woman, who introduced herself earlier at the gates as Aoko Aozaki, released her lips from the rim of the cup and after making a show of breathing in the herbal tea(Earl Grey) she had specifically asked for, "This is really good...err...ohaku-san, was it?" Kohaku bowed with a smile on her face after seeing a frown on Akiha's face. Perhaps Aoko saw it too as she decided to face Akiha and answer her question. "Now as to your question," she paused here as she reached forward to place the cup on a westernized table in front of her, "I was the one who gave your brother Tohno Shiki, his glasses." She picked up her tea and was amused by the composed girl's widening eyes. She took another sip of her tea to give her host a little time to digest that. It would've surmised everything but she decided to go into a little detail to avoid questions. She was not fond of questions. "I think it was about 10 years ago. I was going through this town at the time and as I went to my favourite place that over looked the whole of this town, I saw him there. He really looked the definition of lost." Another pause, Akiha thought this woman would make a great teacher. That is, if she wasn't already one.

"I knew how hard it was for him as soon as I found out what he was capable of. Having had a...acquaintance with a similar gift as him, I was prepared and so I gave him the glasses that if he had listened to the 'talk' I offered him, he should still be wearing now." A smile as she looked all around the room. From Akiha, to Kohaku, to then Hisui-chan who was standing with both her hands folded respectfully in front of her at Aoko's side and said, "but seeing as you are all still alive after staying with him as long as I suspect, then he hid my words, am sure." As she was bending forward to pick up the cup, she saw Akiha straightening to ask a question and she wished she hadn't added that unnecessary comment. 'Curses, one of these days...

Akiha narrowed her eyes t her. She didn't know if this woman was friend or foe right now. "And what exactly do you mean by that?" 'Calm down Akiha. You don't want to go back there. Not again.' She took a deep breath and leaned back in her seat with her cup of tea and awaited the answer. "Nothing. Forget about it." Answered Aoko. She became aware that she hasn't yet been told where Shiki is. "Where is Shiki anyway?" She set the cup down and leant back in the chair. Her body was tired from the journey she had to take when she heard the news. This gave her a bad feeling. If she was told that he was out and they didn't know where, then she was going to go out looking for him. If those guys got a hold of him, there was no assurance that they would ever see him again.

"He is with that vampire woman talking about whatever God knows what." Akiha answered. She didn't like the idea of leaving those two alone even a little bit. Aoko didn't really have to make three guesses to know which vampire exactly Akiha was talking about. Of all those she knew resided in this city right now, only one would get under this girl's skin so much. The remaining true vampire princess, Arcueid Brunestud. If Shiki really was of the Nanaya blood, then she was really surprised those two lived until now if they have been together this long. And if Akiha left her brother alone with a vampire, then she really meant a lot to Shiki. A grin appeared on her lips as she thought of the possibilities of an assassin falling for a vampire. It was like a cure falling in love with a disease it is meant to destroy. Well, that is the best she could come out with so sew her.

(Somewhere near the park)

Shiki and Arcueid were walking along the edges of the park about half a meter from each other. No one had said a single word since they were left alone. They both knew the topic that needed to be discussed but no one wanted to bring it up just yet. Shiki being the man, decided to go first. "Arcueid, I have noticed that you have been avoiding me lately. When I come to your apartment you are never there anymore. Is there something wrong? Did I do something wrong?" Arcueid hearing the tone in his voice cringed a little now rethinking about her thoughts. He sounded really hurt. Arcueid began to have doubts about her decision but then she thought of Ciel's advice not so long ago. Asking for time out wasn't quitting or breaking up. They would just be taking a break from the boyfriend/girlfriend thing. She made her decision.

"Shiki, I'm sorry for avoiding you. I don't know why but I was afraid. My feelings for you have changed a little from when we first met and I felt guilty like I was leading you on if I no longer felt for you. I mean, I was the one who practically mentioned the date. I made you stay near me to take responsibility for something that wasn't in your control." She frowned and stopped, looked into Shiki's face that looked like he wanted to protest but Arc cut him off. "Do you even know when we became officially a couple? I...I am really sorry for forcing you into this. No matter how you look at it, if it wasn't for me, we wouldn't even be together now. You can go out with someone else in the mean time if you like too during our time out. I know there are a lot of girls that like you." Though it may have looked to the spectator that Arcueid was handling this well, this was most definitely not the case.

She was hurting inside. Really hurting. This would mean spending less and less time with Shiki which she didnft like at all. She had been really lonely before meeting him. He was her first everything. First friend, lover and companion. Who would she laugh with now? Who would help her get rid her boredom. She was either making a very big mistake, or not but either way, this was going to change the life they had together so far. Shiki too wasn't looking fair off. His face showed a mixture of so many emotions at once and seeing one of anger and betrayal, Arcueid got a feeling of fear for a second. Shiki then seeming to have aligned his wavelength to that of Arcueid calmed down and agreed that it was probably for the best. Arcueid was relived and released a breath she hard been holding. She smiled and with a heartfelt 'thank you', kissed Shiki on the cheek and stepped away.

She beamed her innocent smile making her all the more like a kid in a young woman's body. She waved to Shiki as she walked away, well, more like hopping backwards and said goodbye to him and hoping of seeing him tomorrow at their rendezvous point for a full city scout. She walked around for a bit not noting her destination but just walking. Now that she had said that to Shiki, she felt a little free for some reason. Now that she thought about it, they could still be together and play as usual though now if Shiki was to get another girlfriend, then their time would be limited. Oh well, she could always go tease Ciel a little. Speaking of whom, she has to thank her for her advice on this. If she hadn't given her that input, then she would still be feeling guilty and dampening her spirits even more. If she knew Ciel, she would be in bed by now. Arcueid decided to attack her tomorrow morning on her way to school. But for now, she had to catch up on that much needed sleep she was missing these past few days. Yes. Sleep.

(Somewhere underground)

A silhouette is seen in front of a large glass container working its fingers furiously on a panel in front of him. At close observation he had on a white lab coat all the while looking like a very renowned sophisticated scientist. His face showed concentration and not wanting to disturb his work, we look to the container to see that inside, surrounded by green fluid, was a person. From the looks of it was a young man about 16 or 17 years old. He was in a foetal position and bubbles could be seen flowing from his nasals where a tube connected to it. Going back to our doctor who was now finished with whatever he was doing, got a proper look to his features. He is, unless he is a twin, one known Kouma Kishima. But what was disturbing was the fact that he had his two eyes. The real Kouma had lost one eye in his childhood and had been thought lost years ago after the Tohnos wiped out the Nanayas.

Kouma now shed his glasses and pressed a button on the panel and stepped back away from the container. The glass shattered and the liquid amazingly seemed to evaporate as soon as it was released as if just getting into contact with the air was enough for it to reach its evaporation temperature. The boy who was in the tank started to open his eyes and stood up. Kouma walked up to him and draped his lab coat on his shoulders. He looked him over and did some testing while he asked a few questions. "I'm Roa. How do you feel?" He asked the boy as he moved his finger from left to right in front of the boyfs face to see if he was responsive. He didn't answer him, but Roa knew he was okay. The boy's eyes moved with his hand and Roa knew that the vision was okay. The boy being examined by Roa right now had a keen resemblance of Shiki but where Shiki had gentle cool features, this boy had strong calm ones. If you have ever thought about a person you just looked at and thought of everything else but life, then he was it.

He was like a 1 mm wide ice covering a bottomless freezing ocean. It looked calm inviting but step over and you will never see light again. He was, "Shiki Nanaya. You are Shiki Nanaya from now on. Come on then. Let us get you some decent clothes to wear and you will meet the gang." Roa said to him as he led him out of the room which was screaming 'laboratory' from all the things inside it. The door swished, okay more like banged, as it was closed behind them.

In the room, though everyone around knew this wasn't the real thing, they all felt anger rise as they were introduced to a person very familiar to that who brought about their defeats. Wallakia was the first to put forward his opinions. "What are you trying to pull here Roa? You know very well what that guy did to us." He pointed his finger to Nanaya his burning gaze following his finger and glared a challenge to Nanaya. Wallakia's reply from Nanaya was a raised eyebrow and from Roa, "What are you talking about Wallakia? Shiki here has very little connection to the Shiki that defeated you. I cultivated his base genes from those of Kiri Nanaya." After confused glances, Roa decided to elaborate. "Kiri Nanaya is the genetic father of the Shiki that killed you. The Shiki you know and alive out there." He finished with a wave of his hand indicating the city above them.

A few gasps and Roa knew he had their attention. "Kiri was the best assassin in the Nanaya line and as you know, the Nanayas are the best there is. Too bad he had to die to the hands of the owner of the body I inhabit now. I would've had a few good uses for him." He finishes with a dramatic sigh. Some of those in the audience knew of the legendary assassin and gasped knowing that their leader now had the abilities of a guy who took out the best assassin to ever live. "Shiki here however, has no flows. I cultivated his DNA from scratch and made a few modifications. He isn't Mister Sweet at all. So if you value your lives, I suggest you never cross him. Get along, and he will get along. Be nasty, and...well...you get the picture." Roa stood up and being tired from all the work he had to do in all these hours, he needed rest quickly before they made their move. But first, he needed to see how well he polished Nanaya's fighting skills. But being around won't accomplish anything.

"Well, please get along and tomorrow, we will make our first move. Now, I got to sleep. Bye." He slipped away and into the door but he hid his presence and stayed there. He knew someone would pick a fight and what better way to judge his work's power than this? Besides, he hadn't seen his last creation's power yet having been looking forward to creating their ultimate assassin. If he was right, then it would gratefully be 'her' that picked a fight. As if on cue, one of the ones left in the room came forward towards Nanaya and let a smile come to her face. "So, you are to be the alpha dog eh? Frankly you don't seem that great to me. You can't just earn that position. You will have to prove yourself worthy." She finished and waited for a response but when none came, she took it as an agreement and disappeared...literally.

The spectators all watched on with grins on their faces except one. She looked like a 10 year old, had white long hair tied in a white bow and also wearing a white dress. Her eyes were blood red and her expression was like that of Nanaya. Well, expressionless. But if you looked deeper. "..A ha ha ha", a laugh was heard as the woman who disappeared was now holding Nanaya by the collar before throwing him in the air and following him up. She slashed at him with her claw like strong fingers and it looked like she was skewering something for a barbeque all the while laughing her release of frustration. She put an extra force into the last three slashes before sending him to the other end of the room. Nanaya crashed in the floor and the force made him dent it.

"Che, that's it? Is this supposed to be our leader? What a joke." Nero who had been quiet all this time made his thoughts known. He had had high hopes for all Roa said about this Nanaya but if this was it, then Warcueid might as well do him in. He closed his eyes again relaxing and praying for his soul to rest in peace...not. To his surprise, the girl he has never heard talk to anyone before, talked but what she said threw him off. "Warcueid, be careful." Is what she said. Warcueid, the woman who was doing Nanaya in, turned towards the girl who spoke and then back to Nanaya who was now standing back to his feet all the while looking nothing like someone should look after they went through what he did.

Nanaya dusted himself and couldn't help it but smile. This was really getting interesting a little. He hadn't thought that he would get to fight this early. He looked at Warcueid and he moved. He wanted to enjoy this as much as possible so he didn't want to go for the kill. He went to Warcueid and even though she saw him come, it was like she was paralysed. She couldn't move. Nanaya brought out a pocket knife from his back and sliced Warcueid from bottom to top and the force lifted her from the ground. He met her there and slashed at her so many times that if Warcueid was a normal human, they would be a pile of dismembered body parts by now. As it turned out, Warcueid's speed of healing was for the records and Nanaya loved it even more. As Warcueid came back down to the ground, her face twisted in pain, Nanaya was already there waiting for her.

ZAN-KEN-SETSU

Warcueid overcoming from the intensity of the cuts was getting ready to land on her feet her wounds having healed completely, and then she felt the cursed 10 cm blade connecting with her neck, arm leg and everywhere. Pain shot through all over her body. She wondered why that crazy bastard couldn't make her not feel pain when he created her but alas. Mean while, Nanaya was having so much fun that that he felt that play time was over. Knowing that his opponent wouldn't be moving anytime soon, he retreated a few steps back and prepared to finish this. Warcueid was a pool of bloody mess but the blood was being pulled back to her body like a murder scene played backwards on tape. She starting to get up weakly and sitting up first. Suddenly her instincts went off and she looked up and saw what Nanaya was preparing to do. Shit.

The watchers all around were looking on in amazement at what was going on. They had cornered Warcueid as soon as she had joined them to see what she got and she had taken them on all on, well, apart from Len, and she had given them a run for their money. Now to see her being made a joke of, they really did think that maybe Roa was right about this one. Len too was one of the watchers and she knew what was going to happen as did the others. Looking around her, she saw no sign of anyone stopping the fight. She didn't want Warcueid to be destroyed. She knew that Roa would probably make another clone but she didn't want another clone. She had to save her. Len closed her eyes and put her hands before her.

HOKUSAI...

Nanaya was getting ready to do Warcueid in. He got on his mark and as he began to move, the world around him went blank for a second and when he came to his senses again, he found that he was frozen in time and when he got his footing back, looking to his target found nothing. He turned to his right to see the spectators some looking at him with fear, others acceptance. He saw the one he was getting ready to kill being supported by a girl in white. The woman, Warcueid was smiling appreciatively at the girl and struggled to get up. Nanaya for some reason was glad that he was stopped before he killed the woman. Another girl came forward from the ones standing around towards Nanaya and she offered her hand, "Hi. I'm Akiho. It's a pleasure." He looked her over while he took her hand in his and shook it but said nothing. She had red flaming hair. Literally flaming hair. She wore a white blouse and red skirt. She seemed familiar somehow.

(Back at the Tohno Mansion)

"I'm back." Shiki called as he entered into the front door. He wondered why Hisui-chan wasn't at the gate let alone the door way for him. Maybe she has finally come to heed his words. He was trying really hard to get her to stop treating him like some bachelor but in vain. He sighed and had as his sister called him to join them in the sitting room that they had a guest. Hisui-chan of course came out to at least meet him on the way. She greeted him and followed him in the living room. "I'm sorry I held you Akiha, I was still talking with Arc..." He stopped in mid sentence when he saw who else was in the room, apart from Kohaku-san of course. He never thought he could ever see her again. She had told him that they might meet and he was looking forward to seeing this great woman who personally taught him the value of life. The only person he respected in this world.

"Well, are you gonna just stand there trapping flies or are you going to say 'hello' anytime soon?" Aoko smiled at the shock and surprise and everything else on his face. She too felt a great joy of seeing him again. That little lost boy was no more and instead, he was standing mightily here in front of her. She decided to save the poor boy and go to him. She gave him a hug and pulled back enough to look in his still shocked face but not to let him go just yet. "How have you been Shiki? I hope you have been behaving." Her voice was soft and it snapped Shiki to his senses. He let a real smile that Akiha and everyone hadn't seen for a long time cross his face and almost cried when he answered Aoko's greeting. "It's so good to see you again Sensei. I never thought I would see you again." He gave the hug back. They stayed like that for a moment too long and only Akiha's cough got them to let go and come back to the rest of the living.

"The reunion is good and all but I've got to go to bed. I am wiped out from all today's fiasco." She yawned so elegantly that it was almost possible to believe someone would do that. Sadly, only this girl could pull off a yawn and make it look like something completely different. "Hisui, go and prepare room 6 for our guest." She got up and started for the door to the stairs but before she reached it, she turned to Kohaku, "Kohaku, prepare some tea for Nii-san and then come up to my room. Well, goodnight everyone. I will be waiting for the details tomorrow morning." And with that, the mistress of the house exited, much to Shiki's relief. He hasn't yet gotten to level base with Akiha. He turned back to his Sensei and smiled as he took a seat near where Aoko was sitting before. At least something really good came out of this really bad day. Something good indeed.

To Be Continued...


	4. Chapter 4

**Melty Blood heARTS**

_**By Demon Eyes**_

_**Disclaimer: Arcueid and co belong to Type-Moon not me.**_

_**Act IV**_

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****Ciel woke up as always at 6:30 and started to prepare for school. She sanitised and made a quick breakfast for herself and her roommate Nanako. She bang to think of what she would do for the day and something clicked in her mind. A few weeks ago, she had received a call from the church after so long. Her superiors were telling her that they had a new assignment for her. She was to go back to head quarters for briefing in two days and she wasn't sure what to do. After the ruckus that has started in Misaki town, she didn't want to leave if things got bad. The first time around Wallakia was a force to be reckoned with but now that he seemed to have a boss, spelled trouble with a T.

She had to tell Tohno-kun about this. If she was lucky, then the church was going to tell her to take care of the business in this town. Why couldn't they tell her what she had to do on the phone anyway? Probably 'for your ears only' and such things. Looking on the bright side, she would have something to do after a long while. She wanted to do some serious fighting some time soon. Parrying with Arcueid was all good but she couldn't go all out. Though she knew that she wouldn't be able to kill the true princess, very high damage would be involved and for some reason, Ciel wasn't too thrilled by that idea. Well, there is also the point of Arcueid losing it and going berserk, which was most definitely not a good thing for her, and every one else.

While on the subject, she wondered how things went between those two! Hopefully Arcueid didn't chicken out and kissed and made up instead. She was motionless for a second, "Erg, enough of this. I'm going to be late for class." She picked up her bag, walked to the door and put on her shoes. After a simple spell on her home, she closed the door and left for school. She was passing through Arcueid's neighbourhood when she saw her. Now Ciel wondered why she hadn't taken a different route. This was the shortest way to school but still, if you had to either take a long road or pass by this crazy girl, then if you were normal you would take the long route. "Yaho Ciel." The simpleton girl greeted Ciel with a wave of her hand. Ciel looked around quickly from side to side to make sure no one saw her with this weird young woman acting like a kid.

She let out a relieved sigh when she saw that the streets were empty. People didn't get up this early in the morning except maybe students but it seemed that Ciel was an earlier riser than them. Still, she didn't want to take a chance of being seen with Arcueid especially if the students were going to her school. She ran over to Arcueid and taking her raised hand, quickly moved it to her side and kept it there for point. "What?" Arcueid asked with a pout on her beautiful face but never made any motion of pulling away her hand from Ciel's grasp. "Why do you always act like suck a kid? This would be excusable say, 500 years ago but even now?" Actually Ciel never meant it to sound as harsh as it did but she had had it.

"Well, excuse me for being myself." This time Arcueid pulled her hand away and it seemed to Ciel that she had hurt her, maybe. Arcueid had started to walk forward and Ciel caught up to her. When Ciel stole a glance at her face, Arcueid turned the other way and this almost made Ciel to chuckle. Perhaps Arcueid wasn't acting like a child but was not yet mature enough to the world. She wondered how long it would take her to grow up internally. May be a few 1000 years or more. Ciel decided that she had been a little hard on her so she decided to let her pride fall a little. "I'm sorry Arcueid, that wasn't called for, okay?"

Arcueid turned back with a smile on her face. "A ha, I got you good Ciel. I never knew you had manners too." She laughed at her. Ciel strangely wasn't angered by that and she joined in even on the laugh. After a few seconds, Ciel decided to know how it went with Tohno-kun. "So Arcueid, did you talk to Tohno-kun about that?" The smile never left Arcueid's face as she nodded a yes to Ciel but that didn't tell her anything so she pressed on, "So you talked to him, and?" They walked on as Ciel awaited Arcueid's answer. Normally this would show that the talk didn't go all well but a happy Arcueid said otherwise.

"Well, to cut it short, we decided to take a break and see other people if we want." She turned to Ciel and said, "I guess that means that I'm all yours now." Ciel never wasted any second to voice her shock. "WHAT!" She stooped suddenly and if there were people walking behind her, they would be colliding with her back. "Arcueid made another pout and said, "What do you mean what? Now that we decided to take a break from each other, I will be spending my time with you. There aren't many people that I know here and even though we had our differences, we have been bumping into each other for years and even worked together." Her eyes brightened up here. "I don't know why you don't think we are friends. I think of us as friends." She took Ciel's left arm that was not holding the bag and linked hers around it. "Come of friend, I will see you off to school." Ciel's protests were all for naught as Arcueid was a lot more strong than her.

"Ciel decided to let her simple...friend have her way and let herself be pulled towards her school. Then Ciel thought of what Arcueid had said not so long ago and decided to invite her along with her to H.Q. "Arcueid, I am going back to the church for a new assignment tomorrow. Do you want to come with?" Ciel never looked at Arc while she asked but kept her gaze in front. "Really Ciel? I am coming with. Yes I am." She got her hands from Ciel's arm and gave her a quick hug before she returned to her hold onto the arm. "I've been really bored. I hope it is an interesting foe." She says foe because the church may seem like a peaceful place but their job is to destroy evil. Ciel is more commonly known as The Bow and the clients she works for maybe religious but their agency is known as 'The Burial Agency'.

Arcueid was brought up differently from her people. Where the other true ancestors fell into sin and went over to the dark side, she was raised to fight against them and kill them. After Arcueid had earned her freedom when she defeated Wallakia with the help of Shiki, she was no longer in service to the church. This is why she is being invited by Ciel when she would receive her own orders separately. They were in the school grounds even before they knew it. Ciel was lost in her thoughts as to why she was being nice to her sworn enemy when the said enemy informed her that they were here. Ciel snapped to her senses quickly at that but she was too late. Students that had already arrived were all staring at them. Sports club students that were on the grounds all stood to stare. A keeper in one of the goals that face Ciel was pounded in the face by the ball because he was so gone.

"Oh great." Ciel mattered under her breath. She didn't know why but she was glad that Tohno-kun and her sister were not early people so they didn't see them like this. In a few seconds all windows were filled with students all wondering what was going on. All Arcueid was doing was waving to them and the students waved back. She was quite popular with them as she had been coming in before to torment Tohno-kun but now Ciel was the victim. She pulled herself away from the cheery girl. "Okay Arcueid, this is where I leave you. Bye." She turned away and proceeded to the main building. "I will see you at lunch Ciel." She heard Arcueid shouting after her. One of the girls in the volleyball team wooed, "Arcueid-san, do you want to play with us for a while?" And all the rest of the players begged for her to join them.

"Alright." Arcueid said before skipping over to the court and she was tossed the ball. She went over to the line and served a clean ball that was received and the game was on. Most guys stopped what they were doing and came over to watch this beauty that they all wanted to have but never got the guts to go ask her out. Usually she would be with that second year Shiki Tohno but it seemed that he wasn't around now. They used this chance to ogle her to their hearts' content. The students who were still coming in also went to the now enclosed space with a wall for students. Shiki and Akiha were among the now arrivals and them too went to see what this was about.

"I wonder what the commotion is over there. I have never seen something like this." Shiki said to his sister as they made their way over to the cheering students. "May be a new transfer student? An interesting transfer student." Shiki didn't think so but the thought of correcting Akiha wasn't one of his most appealing. They reached the students and excusing them selves, were given a way as students knew Shiki and Akiha well. Shiki, because he was the boyfriend to the subject of their attraction and Akiha had her own reputation since she transferred a few months ago. Not only was she graceful, beautiful and intelligent, she was good at sports too. This of course didn't make her more popular to the students than Arcueid. Arcueid was more inviting compared to Akiha.

Upon seeing Arcueid playing volley like no other, Akiha was not impressed as expected. After mattering a 'I should've known', she made her way to class and left the idiots to their business. Back at the court, when Arcueid heard the cheers die, she looked around in interest to see that students had stepped aside to let Shiki through. She ran over to him all hyped up from the game and greeted him as usual. She was going to put her arms around his like she usually does but stopped herself. She seemed a little embarrassed by that and Shiki found that he couldn't talk at first. "I've never seen you play before. Did have fun?" he decided to go for that. "Oh yes I did." She turned to the teams and thanking them for the game, walked Shiki to the doors to the school and turned to go do other things. Shiki looked after her walking figure and after a few seconds walked on to meet his friends.

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(Next day)

Ciel had just finished packing all the stuff she might need on the assignment when she heard someone knocking at her window. She let out an angry sigh for she knew who would be crazy enough to go to her 7th floor window for an entrance instead of taking the lift and coming through the door. When she looked over to make sure just in case, she actually felt a little happy to see the face that she had seemed to not spend even a day without seeing. Arcueid was somehow balancing on the rim of the glass window and all the while carrying a bag (it looked more like a sac to Ciel) on her shoulder. The bag itself had a load of things that she just had to know what they were from a person who seemed to have a limited or no wardrobe.

Ciel went over to the window and opened it to let Arcueid inside before people saw her. She wondered if they hadn't seen her already after all the times she had used the window for an entrance. "Yaho Ciel. I brought my things over that I will need on our trip." After patting Ciel on her back (with quite a little force that would make normal people wince with pain) she dropped her bag on the bed. By the way all the contents scattered and fell (some to the floor), she had not even bothered to tie it up. Ciel was right. Arcueid had just gotten a 54x54 sheet, laid it out and placed things inside. Things that Ciel didn't want to name out loud but most definitely not at all needed. All the stuff Arcueid had brought was of no use to either her or Ciel.

"What in the world is all of this crap? Forgetting the fact that you won't be needing any of it, there is absolutely no way you will pass these on the plane?" Ciel observed in disbelief the wonder that is Arcueid's travel baggage. "I am going to add your clothes to my bag since there is still some space left but all this junk is not going anywhere." She began to put Arcueid's clothes in her bag when she noticed that the other young woman was just staying there watching her. "Why don't you go play with Nanako for the time being and I will bring you tea after I finish this quickly." Arcueid obeyed and went into the living room where sounds of punches and kicks and blasts could be heard into the bedroom. When Arcueid got there, she could see the strange looking girl really into some strange game combining hand fighting and guns.

You could see how excited she was by the wagging of her tail. Arcueid got the urge to grab it and didn't waste anytime to do so. Poor Nanako was so surprised that she let go of her controller to try and find her balance as she was lifted from the floor by her tail. She flailed her arms about and screaming for freedom which never came. She tried to twist and look at her interrupter expecting to find her angry master. Whenever she messed up and never cleaned after her self, Ciel would get really cross with her and that's when the tail grabbing came into effect. The surprise was definitely there when she found not Ciel but Arcueid. She gave a whimper at the identity of her holder. Nanako was terrified of this person and for good reasons.

Ciel was now in the kitchen making tea when she snapped. She had been hearing Nanako plead over and over for her rescue and it was getting annoying. Add the cries of Nanako and Arcueid's laugh together and you will know why. She stormed over to them and shouted to the top of her lungs, "Damn it Arcueid, stop it already. I told you to play not terrorise Nanako." She turned to Nanako. "Go to the dining table and bring the cookies I put there, will you?" She set the tray of tea and cups she had brought with her. Arcueid came over and sat in the same two seat sofa that she had settled in all excited. Ciel was a little happy that at least Arcueid appreciated her tea making skills. Even though Tohno-kun visited her club room from time to time, he never showed the needed enthusiasm of it. It seemed like he only came over to keep her company and not for the tea.

Nanako came over with the cookies and placed them on the table. Ciel poured the tea into the three cups and went to start drinking hers. "Better make it quick. Tohno–kun will be here any minute now with a cab to take us to the airport. We have to be ready." She sipped again at her tea and picked up a cookie to snack on. Speaking of being ready, Ciel looked Arcueid over and noticed that she was wearing her normal clothes-the long sleeve blouse and maroon skirt. Ciel was not going anywhere with her dressed like that. She set down her cup and went to the bedroom. She came back a moment not too long and found Arcueid swatting Nanako's hand away from the last cookie. She shook her head not yet grasping Arcueid's actions. She was carrying a dress in her hands and dropped it on Arcueid's lap upon reaching her.

"Go and change into those clothes Arcueid, or you are going no where." She sat down and continued to drink her tea. Arcueid started to complain but seeing that she wasn't being paid attention to, caved in and went to change. After some time, Arcueid came back having changed. "You are really stingy, you know that Ciel?" She sat back down and folded her arms over her chest. She tried really hard to look a little angry but could not pull it off well. Arcueid really was so innocent. Ciel spied a glance her way and was satisfied that it still fit her well. It was a long and wide dress that Arcueid used to wear a long time ago. It was of two pieces but joined together. The top which started from her chest leaving her shoulders and breast bone bare was white with gold trails that came to join the long blue skirt and if Ciel was being honest to herself, Arcueid looked magnificent in it.

Her cheek grew warm when she realised what she was thinking. This didn't go unnoticed by Arcueid however and being a busy body she is would never let it pass. "Ciel, do you like?" She moved her eyes down her body and made a snicker. Ciel got a little redder and tried to burry her face in her tea cup but all it did was make Arcueid laugh a little. Ciel would've died of embarrassment had her door bell not ring at that moment. She got up quickly to go answer it and luckily, her cheek had cooled down a bit by the time she opened it to find Shiki and Aoko Aozaki standing there. She was a little startles to see her there after so long. "Blue. It's been a long time. How have you been?" She went over and gave Aoko a hug which surprised Shiki. He didn't know that his sensei had met with his sempai before. "Hello Tohno-kun. Please come in." She stepped aside to let them enter.

This day seemed to be about surprises to Shiki as he saw Arcueid there in Ciel's apartment sitting comfy in the couch. He had never thought them to be close as Ciel to sit in the same room as Arcueid without shit going down and by the looks of things, nothing of the sort had happened, yet. Even more so was the fact that Aoko was also already acquainted with Arcueid. When Aoko explained that she had helped them on an assignment a few years back, 2000V wouldn't have been enough to bring Shiki back to the present. He sat there while the girls caught up to old times and laughed girlishly. He went over and played a few games with Nanako all the while losing. She was good. He reminded them when it was almost time to leave.

"That's why I am going back. I asked Arcueid to come along since she seemed really bored and you know it means action when I am called over." Aoko had to agree. They wouldn't call in the bow if there wasn't big trouble that needed to be cleaned up. But she was also surprised by the closeness that these two almost polar opposites had. 'Attract' indeed. Even though she had come across them together before when they ere on the job, Ciel always looked ready to kill Arcueid and The True Princess seemed to welcome the challenge. This was proving to be really interesting. She almost had an inkling where this was going and wondered how the burial Agency would react at this. True they always wanted the two to get along better but if things were to be as she thought, then there would be some trouble. 'Oh well, that is none of my business anyway.' She agreed to herself.

"So, you will take care of Tohno-kun and the rest when we are gone, right? I don't really know how this assignment will affect our time so it is good to know that you came back right now." Ciel was a little relieved to know that Blue (as she referred Aoko to as) was staying in town for a long while. She could now leave without worrying about this Wallachia business. This of course also meant that the chances of her assignment being in this area were getting higher. She checked her watch at that and she saw that it was high time they left for the airport lest they be late. She let Nanako turn into her church gab and going to fetch her suitcase from the bedroom, they left for the airport and Ciel was looking forward to kick some major butt.

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(The Tohno mansion)

Hisui and Akiha were at the gate. Akiha was going out to meet her friends in town (She had started to go out after Shiki came back) and Hisui was there to see her off. The gates opened and Hisui bowed to show her respect to the mistress of the house. She went back to the house after closing the gate and went to look for her elder sister Kohaku. She had finished cleaning everything around the house and wanted to see if her sister could find her something to do. Hisui didn't want to be idle. Strangely, Kohaku had been out of sight for a long while. The last time Hisui saw of her was around three or four hours ago. She entered the house and closed the main door behind her.

In a very dimly lit room, we a hooded figure working furiously with mechanical parts and making strange sounds of crazy laughter. Wires and cables of all kind and electrical sparks can be seen in the near darkness. Were it any other ordinary poor soul, they would've turned around and ran away screaming but of course the observer of this strange scene was no ordinary person. Hisui had searched all around the place for her sister and not finding her anywhere; decided to resort to her other...err...resources. The heat readings had shown a person in Kohaku's room but she had already checked there and seen no one. Hisui had decided to check everything and had stumbled upon a secret entrance and it had led her to her sister. Now Hisui to those who knew her was not someone easily surprised but what she saw more than surprised her of course. "Ne…Nee-san!"

Kohaku who had been so absorbed in her experimentation that she failed to here the door open whirled around and her eyes went almost comical wide. "Hisui-chan! This is not what it looks like." She began to explain all the while sweating it out. " I can expl...Hisui-chaaaaaan!" She had started to take her hood down and start to explain but poor Hisui ran out of the room crying. Perhaps she was more ordinary than we thought her to be. Hisui knew that she was not the most sociable person in the house but this was really harsh. Her sister was probably tired of waiting for her to get over her angst and was now, was now creating something to play with instead of her. There in that room was another her. Her sister was creating a mechanical version of Hisui probably to replace her with.

If she was no longer in her sister's life, where was she to be? She had reached the yard before she even knew it but before she went any farther, she felt someone grab her arm and stopped her in her tracks. "Hisui-chan, please stop and listen to me." It was her sister Kohaku. "Why? So you can tell me how you no longer need me as to create a mock copy of me?" Hisui was very angry and her voice said it all. Kohaku flinched a little but she was getting angry too. How could Hisui think so lowly of her? Didn't she know how irreplaceable she was to her! "Please listen to me Hisui-chan. There in nothing that could replace you okay? You are the most important person to me. I know I haven't told you that for a really long time but you must know it."

True I've been finding myself missing the times that we played together when we were still kids but that is not why I created that." Kohaku brings her little sister closer to her and strokes her hair. It has been a very long time since she saw her Hisui-chan show this amount of emotion. A very long time indeed. "Then why did you create in Nee-san?" Hisui wasn't convinced. "I wanted to give us more allies to fight with our new enemies that we may have no choice but to fight. Last time you saw what Wallakia was capable of. I wanted us to be a little more prepared this time." She kissed Hisui tenderly on her fore head and lowered her face to be eye to eye with her. "So you see Hisui-chan, not even my best creation can ever take your place, though I must admit that I will play with it a little, Ku ku ku."

Hisui had started to complain but stopped herself when she saw her sister stifling a laugh calling her bluff. But knowing her as she did, it might not be a bluff at all but Hisui didn't mind it, much, at least for now. "Now come on, let's go back inside and maybe you can help me finish my project. I still have some areas I am having trouble with perfecting." Here her eyes travelled to Hisui's chest and Hisui grew red despite her effort not to." They laughed at that a little as they made there way back to the house with Kohaku's arm over Hisui's shoulders. "What are you going to name it anyway Nee-san?" Kohaku made a motion of thinking but the fact was that she had already thought of a name for her masterpiece. "I will call her...Mecha-HITSUI."

To Be Continued...


	5. Chapter 5

**Melty Blood heARTS**

_**By Demon Eyes**_

Disclaimer: All belong to Type-Moon except the story.

**Act V**

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"Well Shiki, this does not look good at all. What are you going to do?" Aoko whispered to Shiki who was seated in the back of the taxi next to her. She didn't want the taxi driver to listen to their conversation if she could help it but it was proving to be difficult given the distance between them and the driver. Well, she reasoned even if he were to hear their conversation, he would think them crazy at most. Shiki gave his teacher a quizzical look as he was lost as to what she was talking about. "I meant the departure of The Ancestor and that girl from the burial agency." She clarified. If her informant had been right, and they have never told her false information, then this town was in for a great deal of trouble. Considering that Shiki and his friends have proof of something brewing, she couldn't comprehend why he let them go.

Shiki found himself in a very hard position. Though he hadn't counted on his sensei coming back anytime soon, now that she was here, he was counting on her to make the great decisions and maybe even teach him some more things he had yet to understand. What if he were to make the wrong decision and disappoint his teacher? He never wanted that to happen but at the same time, he felt the need to show how much he had grown up and learned in the period of his sensei's absence. "W…Well, we can't do anything about that now. The plane has already left and it wasn't like I could stop them from going. Ciel-sempai told me once that she can never disobey her superiors no matter what. If she had decided to go, then she would go anyway even without my consent and Arcueid, well, I don't think anyone can order her around. And besides, she and I...err..." He trailed off here.

Aoko didn't want to go into it even though she was curious about it. She always took some kind of pleasure in embarrassing her students and Shiki would be even more fun but she decided to wait when the subject was not still sour. "True, but I think that if the bad guys were to come after us right now, we would need the True Ancestor's powers. I don't know about this Ciel much(,) but I've heard people talking about her. She has nicknames for crying out loud and someone nicknamed is not to be taken lightly. From what I heard too, we are in for a big fight. It seems we are not up against a dozen or so but rather nearly a full scale army. So it doesn't matter how good she is. As long as she can fight we need her. Our numbers are small and there is strength in numbers. It doesn't matter how strong one is when facing an army." Well, she knew that some people defied that logic and the Princess was one of them. People with such great power that even an army was not enough to stop them. She just hoped that the guys they are to face don't have persons with as great a power.

"I know what you mean sensei. I don't know where we would be right now without Arcueid and Ciel-sempai's help during the Wallachia nights. I doubt though that they would make their move right now. I don't know but things seem to be a little raw for serious trouble. If they were ready, they would've attacked Sion and Yumizuka that night." He thought so at least and he hoped that he was right. He relaxed and looked to his teacher. "Besides, if things go out of control, we can always call for their help. Sempai gave me her number so that I could call on her anywhere. I don't how it works, but she said I could reach her anywhere in the world on it." He looked a little uncertain though. He had never heard of a phone that worked everywhere. But after everything he has seen, he shouldn't be surprised that something as useful as that could be invented.

"I think those people at the church could do it. They have a great deal of resources. They have a certain object in their possession that I want as well but I haven't gotten a chance to pay them a visit yet." Shiki saw her eyes gleam and he had a certain vision of how her visit would look though he didn't know why. He left his sensei to her thoughts and returned to the matter of Arcueid and Ciel's absence. Today at dusk he would be going with everyone on patrol as they had agreed the night before. He would have to make sure to pair them up with the best chances of survival were they to confront any one. He just hoped there would be no confrontations this earlier on in the absence of their big guns.

He had a great sense of battle tactics and awareness but compared to those two who had been fighting for over hundreds of years, he was nothing. Arcueid would greatly be needed now that he knew Wallachia was still alive. He had seen great power from her during that last war with Wallachia but he sensed that she hadn't been using her all. In fact she was still weak from the injuries he gave her on their first meeting. Not to mention, seeing as Wallachia, the guy whom it took both of them to kill, had apparently survived and was following someone else's orders. All of this did not settle very well with him. It could only mean one thing. There was someone worse, stronger and maybe crazier than Wallachia himself is. If they were lucky, he would be saner than Wallachia though that was very much doubtful.

Sempai was not to be taken lightly either. You had to fear a person who went up against Arcueid head to head every time. Well, she was immortal but there had to be a great deal of pain there. Shiki couldn't know about it but he knew being on the blink of death and not dying had to be the greatest pain of all. If that pain caused normal people to give up on their last breaths, then she for one who cannot die to ease it was truly someone to be pitied. He was amazed by the fact that his sempai could still keep at it all the time. If he didn't know better, he would think that the only one who did that would be one that took pleasure in pain. He saw that in one of his hentai magazines he used to read, now back to reading seeing as he didn't have a girlfriend anymore. It just didn't cross his mind that his sempai could be like that. He just knew it.

During that night that they defeated Wallachia, he saw true power of his sempai. In fact, she never even used that much when she went up against Arcueid. This disturbed him now that he thought about it. Surely, even if Ciel was immortal, Wallachia was too. She could kill him, at least he thought she killed him but he never regenerated like Ciel-sempai has done during their fights. Either it was him, or those two were not serious when they fought each other. Before, he was sure that Ciel-sempai was out to kill Arcueid and if she were to have a chance of killing her, she would take it. Arcueid too seemed ready to kill but they never killed. Whenever his sempai got killed she would begin) to regenerate and Arcueid would take off with an unreadable expression. He thought them to be equal in power but now he knew it wasn't true on that night. That night he knew there were things out there that defied all the laws of the living.

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(The Night of Wallachia)

Screams filled the town of Misaki but do not be so presumptuous as to think them festivity screams. These were those of the terrified kind. The kinds of screams that you would hear in scary movies when a poor soul is about to be added to those that no longer have a body to reside in. This would be somewhat similar to that if not for the fact that this was taking palace in real life. Real people were being terrorised in this town that was known as the most peaceful in Japan only nights ago. To describe the state of the town now would be to use only one word: Doomsday. There was no power in sight and the only light that was available was from the full moon up in the sky which bizarrely looked like it was half the distance it is supposed to be from earth.

This of course was a fact to go unnoticed as no one was in the mood or could take the liberty of staring at that beautiful orb that ironically was spelling the doom of the residents. Now the first question would be as to what exactly was causing these earth and soul shattering screams. Well, the answer to that would be very difficult to explain but nothing is impossible to simplify. The simplest explanation of what was causing this would be mystical beasts. Hellish beasts. They looked like some wild dogs, no, dogs were not this cunning nor as big. They were of wolf class. Those wild big wolfs and other kinds of unseen wild animals but they all had things in common: sharp teeth, long strong claws and glowing red eyes. The curious and most frightening thing though was that they had no bodies. The mentioned parts would be clearly made out but they looked to be attached to some kind of living flowing shadows of absolute darkness.

Adults, children and everything alive were being destroyed by these monsters. They travelled in waves through streets and it seemed to someone who happened to witness it before he too was judged upon, they seemed to be sucking in everything they came into contact with. No house or place hidden was left un-intruded upon. All hope was not lost though as there were some who had the courage to face these beastly monsters. They stood quite a ways away in the same path that the beasts were coming through as they charged towards them. No fear was present in anyone's eyes even though unknown things could be seen approaching them with the speed and power of a great wave. A girl stepped forward in front of the only male in the group who looked to have been in the front. She had long black hair that nearly reached her hip though a white ribbon held it back.

"Nii-san, you go on as you planned and we will stay here to take care of this." The brother in question was Shiki Tohno, an adoptive in to the Tohno family and thus a step bro to Akiha Tohno, the girl who had just spoken. Along with these two, were seven others; Arcueid, Ciel, the twins Kohaku and Hisui, Sion Eltram Atlasia, Shiki's classmate Satsuki Yumizuka and Arcueid's familiar Ren. The plan that Akiha was referring to, had been decided upon before. The battle strategy was that Shiki Arcueid and Ciel would go after Wallachia personally. Everyone else would take care of the rest and maybe act as a distraction were there to be others in Wallachia's circle. It was time now to put it into action and in Shiki's absence it was up to Akiha to take up leadership. She would argue that this decision was not based on family relations were you to ask but in power and thinking which was partially true.

"Alright, but be careful Akiha, and all of you too." He looked around to all that were present and would be left behind to fight the monsters. "I forgot to mention this but you have to put the highest priority in protecting Ren or else all this will be for nothing." He looked to Arcueid and Ciel for confirmation then bid goodbye to the others and they ran off towards the oncoming onslaught. They were not doing what you might think they'd be doing though Arcueid took Shiki by the collar and jumped off the ground towards the roof of one of the two-story houses that populated the area. Shiki gave a start and a cry for his poor handling by his crazy girlfriend who only laughed on as they ascended. Ciel was not far behind them no more than a few seconds. Instead of her blue gown that she would dress in most of the time in battle, she was dressed in a very thin blue sleeveless dress that reached just a few centimetres down her thighs. Her glasses were gone and Shiki just now realized that she hadn't made any out of place motions this evening.

When they reached the roof, he was placed down. He followed side by side with the two girls as they leapt from roof to roof trying to evade as many beasts as they could. Shiki spared a glance down below them and looked on as the monsters did their bidding. Even though he knew what was really going on, he could not help but get a little sick at how grotesque the beasts did their business. He had to make sure one more time. "Are you really sure that they are alright down there sempai?" Ciel sighed having answered that question three times already. The idea was that Ren would put up a very wide barrier that transferred everything in it to a different dimension. Everyone in town now was safe unaware of the things that were happening just beside them.

She set it up so that the present had her illusions of the real in it too. (Maybe) Ciel thought it too real but the scene didn't do anything to her. She had already seen far worse in the time she had lived. Not to mention that which was caused by her own hands. Everyone was seeing the same things as the monsters by the fact that Ren had not held back for fear of their enemy catching whiff of their tricks. They had to make it as real as possible and if it meant for them to see it too, then that was a small price to pay. "Yes Tohno-kun, the people, the real people are in a different dimension which means, whatever is going on right now is out of their perception. We can fight as much as we need to now and defeat Wallachia for them to be safe."

Shiki decided that that was enough for him so he just nodded and with a final glance, his resolve returned and his expression went back to normal. In the distance, they could hear Sion's gun going off and its fire power could be seen all the way to where they were. It took out almost half the number of beast that was present. But that didn't stop their approach it seemed as Akiha could be heard next yelling something then a huge explosion followed. Kohaku's strange laugh was hard to hear as they had reached the end of the buildings and jumped off. This time Ciel helped Shiki down to save him from the pain that Arcueid would most likely cause were she to do it. They ran on but not for long as the entry into Misaki forest could be seen just a few meters ahead.

Within this forest, resided Wallachia's castle that mysteriously just so happened to appear once the cycle of the full moon began. This was the very same place where they were going and believed their nemesis to be at this moment. They exchanged glances and proceeded with Arcueid taking the fore. When they had gone a little further inside, Shiki noticed that the fog was getting thicker with their advance. Not much longer after that the lone light was blocked off and they had to walk on in mere lighting of the glowing smoky atmosphere. Arcueid slipped a bit and almost fell down but Shiki, who was coming in right behind her, gave a steadying hand. "Are you alright Arcueid?" He was more concerned for his girlfriend as of late. She really tried very hard to constrain herself but she used up a great deal of will power to do it.

Arcueid was a vampire and even though she could survive without blood that did not mean that she didn't have the urges to take it. Despite the fog covering the full glare of the moon that was still too close for Arcueid's liking, it didn't make any difference at all. If it was up, it was up. Put the fact that she had yet to completely heal from her friend's ordeal in to the equation and the energy she put into resisting the urges that came to her from her vampirism, then she was pretty weak at the moment. She didn't want to make void of Shiki's plans of wanting to save everyone. He had practically gotten on his knees and begged her for her help. Were she to make truth of his fears then he would most likely send her back and she didn't want I to come to that. She might as well get it over with now. Ren would need a great deal of rest after the power she has used tonight.

"Yeah. Do not worry Shiki, I just slipped that's all. Why did I even bring these shoes with me tonight? Ciel's looks more comfortable." Her eyes stayed on Ciel's feet and a smile came to her face. Shiki knew at once what she was meaning to do and sure enough, she started to lung for the poor blue and white shoes when Shiki caught her and held her back. "What? I just wanted to get a closer look that's all." She turned her head back forward and gave a pout crossing her arms over her chest in the process. Ciel gave a snicker and followed. Shiki brought up the rear and shook his head when Arcueid turned to Ciel and realized what that snicker was for. Thankfully they too knew of what grave situation they were in so they didn't duke it out.

They walked on and soon enough, or more like suddenly, came in view with the castle. Mainly due to the thickness of the fog. Suddenly, a deafening sound of a very grand piano playing boomed into their eardrums. Very grand because the volume was so great that they were sure everyone in this part o the world could hear it. Thankfully though, they were in another dimension so their ears were spared. It was playing one of those pieces that you are sure crazy people would enjoy. This in particular was never heard of before even Arcueid who thought she'd heard all of them didn't recognise it. It made all those well-known composers sound like armatures compared to it. The three of them knew that it was an invite by their host and it sounded like it came from the top most part of the castle.

The castle was built in a way that to go to the stairs to the next floor, you had to cross that floor to get to them. As many dark castles are said to be, this was no different. Having breathed a sign of relief when they found no one on the ground floor. Shiki and company thought that their enemy was perhaps so crazy that he had no guardians or close minions but when they got to the first floor, they found out that no one was as crazy as they had thought. To make matters worse, the first minion they encountered was someone that Shiki had prayed never to meet again. He had a thing with animals of the wild that not even he could not explain. And now he had to deal with him again. This world was not fair. He remembered passing out from pain caused to him by the guy standing in front of them but nothing more until he came to and was told that he had defeated him. Yet here he was. Standing before them - Chaos.

A few things were different about Chaos though. Where he was previously really annoying with his speeches, here he was really mute and still as if he were a living statue. Arcueid and Ciel went on guard though and Shiki followed suit. The piano changed a few keys and Chaos opened his eyes which were a glowing red now with no pupils and attacked. Shiki though not pleased with animals, had been training since the Roa incident and was now more or less stronger and better aware of some of his capabilities. He too charged forward to battle it out in a second round that he felt he deserved. Chaos released his famous beasts and Shiki thought that he might have been the one who released all those things in town. He unsheathed his knife and slashed through them with ease. He too had left his glasses at home and had been without them for almost five hours straight.

Adjusting to the world only he could see was one of the tasks he had to train in on his quest to become stronger. And so, he had no trouble even now when he faced a guy he had trouble with before and it took him no time at all to cut him up into tiny little pieces that would insure his death for real this time. This time however, he found that there was no source of the lines that filled his body. He feared for a second that he would regenerate and this would go on forever, when he saw that the being Chaos just dissolved into the floor and didn't show again. The three took this opportunity and raced through the corridors to take the next stairs to the upper floor. Ciel was thinking to herself about what just happened though. Tohno-kun might have improved but even he wouldn't have defeated Chaos that easily unless something was up. She decided to wait for the next fight to come to fully come to a conclusion on her thoughts.

Sure enough there was someone awaiting them on the next floor. This one however would prove to be more difficult to take on as was evident by the shocked looks on the trio's faces. Judging by the windows they had seen from the outside, the next floor would be where their target was, so it was most accurate to conclude that this time it was not going to be easy for whoever decides to take their opponent on. Sitting there on one of many wooden crates in their view, a girl was sitting with one of her legs raised a little and it looked like she was bored waiting for someone, which in this case, meant them. This was proven by the fact that she raised her head that rested on her palms covering her raised knee to look at the people she had been waiting for when their feet touched the floor. So different was this one from Chaos's state before that they really knew they were in deep trouble, at least Shiki thought so.

Arcueid looked like there was Santa giving out presents in front of them and she was next in line by the look of extreme excitement on her face. Ciel was very different from her state of mind though she looked like she had seen a ghost or a person very dear to her and with great reason too. What would shock Ciel so much so that it rivalled Arcueid's excitement? Well, that would be because there was another Ciel in the room. This Ciel though was not the Ciel-sempai who was standing beside Shiki at the moment. He didn't know if he would like it were his sempai to be a little like the one standing before them but his genes may have approved judging by the flame on his cheeks. Yes, Shiki Tohno was blushing. The Ciel just meters in front of them had nothing on covering her except a cloak of some sort and white panties which were showing and still were because she still had one leg raised on the crate she was sitting on.

Ciel paid no notice of this however as she was still shocked from the presence of her ghost from the past. The image in front of her was exactly as she was during those horrible years of her life when she was taken over by Roa. The red eyes and that smile she didn't think she was able to make were all present. Arcueid stepped forward and place her hand on Ciel's shoulder which snapped the blue haired girl back to her senses. "Don't worry Ciel. I will take care of this. You and Shiki go on and I will catch up to you in no time." Ciel was going to protest as she thought she should be the one to fight her own demons but Shiki held her back and shook his head. Ciel caved in and followed Shiki through a different room to get to the stairs. Dark Ciel started to go after them but chains blocked her way and she turned to Arcueid.

"And where do you think you are going? I have always wanted to have a serious fight with you...Ciel...err, whatever. You get what I mean." She dismissed it with a wave of her hand and her smile widened. She cracked her knuckles while moving forward. She was surprised though when this Ciel smiled in return and answered to her challenge. "Oh, I understand perfectly, vampire. I have always wanted a rematch with you and a real fight too. This time there is no one at stake so we can go all out." She let out a laugh that Arcueid couldn't imagine the real Ciel making and with knives appearing in her hands, she charged Arcueid too. Ciel threw her blades towards Arcueid and jumped in the air to deliver yet even more. Arcueid was on to her though as she created a stream of blood and sent it to meet the first round of blades to stop them in their tracks then jumped to knock the second air-based wave of blades with her bare hands out of the air. After that, the weapons were out of the question and fists were exchanged.

Going up the stairs, Ciel and Shiki could hear the mixed laughs of Arcueid and that wannabe Ciel below them and sounds of things breaking. Shiki just prayed that they don't bring them on the ground by levelling the floor. He heard that unsettling sound of Ciel's laughter and chanced a glance towards his sempai's way. He tried very hard to picture her laughing like that but it just couldn't come to him. He decided to drop it and think of a strategy to use against their ultimate enemy that they should be seeing just a dozen of stairs away from them. To be honest, he was a little afraid of what they would be seeing and wished for those 12 remaining stairs to run on forever but just like so many other wishes he had before, this one was not to be answered either. As soon as they stepped onto the last step, the caught a full back view of their enemy. From the looks of things, he was just an ordinary person with blonde hair and wore a black cowl. He was busy playing the piano and paid no attention to them until he stopped playing. When he turned their way however, Shiki decided it would have been much better for him not to not face them.

To be continued...


	6. Chapter 6

**Melty Blood heARTs**

_By Demon Eyes_

Disclaimer: Type-Moon owns the awesome characters not me.

**Act VI**

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"I don't know who you are but welcome to castle none the less. I was about to go out for dinner but you saved me the trip. So, who is first then?" Wallachia's face turned into a very scary face that Shiki had only seen in those movies he always watched with his friend in the cinemas. His eyes were like holes into a world of nothing but wells of red mass. His teeth were so sharp and very much similar to an animal's. "I can't see them." Shiki said to himself more than anybody else. Everything that was around him had death lines in them yet the man that was standing in front of them didn't have a single line on him.

"What was that Tohno-kun?" Ciel had heard him whispering to himself. "That guy does not have the lines on him. Not a single line." Ciel was taken aback a little by this revelation. How was that possible? What is this guy made of? 'At any rate, now Tohno-kun is of no use now. If he goes in without doing any damage, he will be killed quickly.' Ciel thought to herself. This had officially gotten from bad to worse. How were they supposed to defeat a guy that they couldn't kill? Ciel had been counting on Tohno-kun's ability to down the guy but what now? Maybe Arcueid knew of a way but she was still down stairs dealing with her impostor.

"Tohno-kun, wait for Arcueid to get here. She might have a few ideas of how to take down this guy but for the moment what I can think of is buying time." Ciel started to walk on forward but she stopped and turned when she felt a hand on her shoulder. "Wait sempai, I know should go first. I may not be able to see the lines but I can still cut him up pretty good." Ciel's features turned hard and she pulled away from Shiki. "Tohno-kun, this guy is no ordinary vampire. His abilities are far greater and the 'cuts' that you may be able to put on him will not do more than what they would do on water. On the other hand, I have battle experience and thus have more chances to survive than you do. Besides, I don't plan on losing to this guy. I swore that the only opponent I will ever lose to was that vampire." She smiled and hoped that that will put Shiki to bay.

"I am going to hold him down until Arcueid gets here. I may injure him pretty good but I can't kill him." She turned and faced their enemy who had turned back to a normal person. "If you are quite done deciding whose life I crush first, let's get it on." Then he was back to his ugly self with that disturbing smile of his. Ciel dashed forward and in a blink of an eye, she was on Wallachia delivering powerful punches and kicks. Wallachia was laughing all the while and defending himself at the same time. He was so fast and Ciel had to give him credit. She was just warming up though as she increased the speed at which she threw her hits.

She brought a left hook first which was blocked and followed up with a right but that was also blocked. The next real left hook though went in and connected with Wallachia's smug which made a few whiteys go flying. This was successful though probably due to the fact that all these three punches happened in less than a second and Wallachia wasn't fast enough. Ciel was proud of her speed that was for sure. Even Arcueid wasn't fast enough for her. Wallachia went flying backwards and crashed into his piano which went a few feet back as well and smashed into the rear wall. There was dust that skewed Ciel and Shiki's view. Shiki was again amazed by his sempai's skills. His eyes couldn't catch up with those hits.

There was cry and the two pieces of the piano went flying threw the air towards Ciel. She kicked them to the side seeing as were she to avoid them, they would be heading for Tohno-kun. A shadow came forward at high speeds from where Wallachia had crashed and Ciel had to act on instinct and jump through the air to dodge what looked like a shadow of Tohno-kun but going to the air was a bad mistake. Wallachia came airborne rolling in the air and catching Ciel completely off guard. He cut her up pretty good with his moving long nails. The pain was great and the blow she received last had enough force to send her crashing into the ground. Wallachia wasn't done with her yet though.

That piano was precious to him. It took him through the years. He teleported near Ciel and used his coat and a weapon to force her from the ground and into the air with a blow. Once off the ground, he created shadow claws and slashed at her which sent her towards Shiki. She was covered in blood and coughed to clear her throat which rarely missed being cut through. "Ciel-sempai, Are you alright?" Shiki shouted to his upperclassman. She forced herself on her knees but when she looked up, she saw that Wallachia was coming towards them. She pushed Shiki aside and the blow that seemed to be coming from Chaos' shadow got her alone instead. There were slashes on her face now and her uniform got torn.

Shiki made to go attack Wallachia but Ciel held her open blood stained palm to stop him. She stood up determined not to let such wounds stop her. She called for Nanako in her mind. Her torn uniform was restored and her Seventh Scripture materialised in her hands. Her body started to get illuminated from her tattoos glowing and she moved forward at so much speed that it looked like she had teleported to Shiki. Wallachia made to jump thing it the easiest way to dodge but he found his threads being held back a gloved hand. He came crashing down back to earth only to meet what was awaiting his return – The sharpened end of a holy stick.

Ciel didn't have the luxury of crying out her attack so she went right to business. She pounded a few steaks into Wallachia while still holding him on the ground level. That wasn't enough for her though. He still had to pay a great deal back for the pain he had given her. She lifted the gun with him still on it in and pointed in the heavens. Some more sticks into him and a big one for good measure saw him flying into the air and came back down with only the power of gravity. Ciel still wasn't finished with him yet though and Shiki felt some petty for him as he saw his sempai jump to meet Wallachia on his journey down to earth. She buried quite a couple of black keys into him and by the time he landed, he looked like a pig on so many sticks for barbeque.

Ciel landed near Shiki and pulled out of no where another black key. She threw it spinning through the air towards Wallachia's exposed throat only to cut through it completely. His head went rolling in the floor and that was when Ciel gave into exhaustion and went on one knee. That should put Wallachia out for a few seconds but it was all she needed it seems seeing as Arcueid came up to join them right at that second. "Wow, I heard a party going on here even more live that I was having down there. I had to finish my fun too soon not wanting to miss on this one. I hope there is sill some left for me."

When she heard no reaction, she opened her eyes and saw a worried Shiki helping an exhausted Ciel to her feet. "I see Ciel was the M.C here. Are you going to live?" Shiki just shook his head while Ciel grumbled. She got free of Shiki's hold when she got to her feet thinking that it would look weird were she to enjoy his closeness in the presence of his girlfriend. "It looks like my suspicions were correct. I am not mortal yet. My wounds are still healing so yeah, I will live sorry to disappoint you." She made a motion of dusting herself off. Shiki ignored their bickering and brought them back to serious matters. "If you are quite done, our friend seems to have put himself back together. Where is that strategy Ciel-sempai?"

Ciel looked to where she had crucified Wallachia and in fact the guy was stretching his neck as if to test it. He didn't look at all pleased though and the glare he sent Ciel's way made her shudder on reflex and even take a step back. "Arcueid, Tohno-kun can't see those lines on this guy and as you see even my all didn't faze him. Do you have any suggestions?" Arcueid thought about that. Shiki couldn't see the lines because Wallachia was just an entity. He had gone from just a mere high scale vampire to something worse. She thought of what it was that changed him but it danced at her memory. "That's it, now I remember. He changed into what he is now using the rays from the red moon."

Ciel and Shiki just stared at her not wanting to know about the stupid moon but how to stop the guy who was now making his way to them with an intent to kill. Arcueid saw their faces and pouted. They just couldn't take some fun could they? "If we summon that which changed him into what he is now, he might turn back into a normal high level vampire that he was. Then Shiki would be able to see the death lines and kill him." She grinned to them as if expecting a sweet to be thrown into her hands as appreciation. Ciel decided to go up for another round with the guy to buy time. Shiki continued with the questions. "How are we supposed to get this red moon? I have never seen it before."

Arcueid just laughed at him and before he could shoot back about that Arcueid decided to explain. "I can use my Reality Marble and summon the red moon. I am the only one who can summon it and I believe he used it the last time I summoned it a few centuries back when I fell." Her smile faded but after sometime she was back to normal. "It takes a little time to complete and after I will be very weak so I have to have a lot of concentration. You will have to guard me." While all this was going on, Ciel was fighting desperately to hold her own against Wallachia but the guy had gotten way stronger now. They were busy exchanging blows but Arcueid's hyper voice could be heard clearly by them.

What they heard made one glad but the other however got really angry. Wallachia would not let the vampire to summon the red moon once again. He created shadow clones of Shiki, Arcueid, Akiha, Sion, and left them to attend to Ciel while he dashed off to stop Arcueid who had closed her eyes and started the ritual. Her right arm was aimed into the sky and Shiki was standing on guard in front of her. Ciel didn't want Shiki to face Wallachia yet so she jumped to the nearest wall and pushed with all her might to land near Shiki before Wallachia got to him. "Tohno-kun, go and take care of those guys that can be killed. I will hold Wallachia off for the needed time." She said that while guarding Wallachia's axe that he had formed to cut through Shiki with.

Ciel pushed forward and continued to use her most powerful attacks to hold Wallachia off. After some really tiring minutes, the sky outside started turning pure back and nothing could be seen at that second. Everyone on the room paused and then it happened. As if Ciel was wearing crimson glasses, the world started to get a little light but it was a crimson light. Ciel felt weird too and even more as the big red orb lifted into the sky that was at least two times bigger that the biggest normal moon Shiki had ever seen. Ciel knew now that she was getting weaker and the wounds she had just received lost that feeling of healing and the pain increased. 'What is happening to me?" She wondered to herself in panic.

The shadows that were fighting Shiki varnished and Arcueid opened her eyes after the ritual was successful. Shiki took that as a sign and attacked Wallachia. The man in red was just fazed a little by the drop in his power but he was still mean enough and gave Shiki a hard time. Arcueid wasn't affected as much as she had thought. She looked around and saw Shiki and Wallachia going at it. She searched for Ciel and found the girl lying on the floor struggling in pain. She ran over to her on instinct and helped her sit up. "What's wrong Ciel? I thought you said you were still immortal!" Ciel opened her eyes and looked to her stomach. The Princess followed her gaze and saw a very bad site when Ciel removed her bloodied hand.

The big gush was not healing and blood was coming out of it fast. Arcueid was a little puzzled but then something clicked in her mind. Could the red moon be affecting everything that wasn't immortal in the beginning? Was Ciel now at this moment a normal human? "What is going on with me Arcueid? I feel weak and very tired. I still remember this feeling very vaguely on that night that I last was a normal human being." Arcueid opened her mouth to spill her findings but Ciel seemed to have found it on her own. "I am normal again?" Arcueid nodded to show that she thought the same. Ciel then started feeling sleepy all of a sudden. She was losing blood so fast and her brain was going into safe mode.

Arcueid though thought that she might be dying so she shook her with a little force to keep her awake. "Don't close your eyes Ciel. I will heal you for the moment so please, don't let go." She didn't know why but Arcueid didn't want the girl in her arms to die. She quickly did what needed to be done and Ciel's wound closed up but she was still weak. She needed to get rid of the red moon fast for Ciel to go back to her usual self. Wallachia had to be taken care of right now. She looked up at the mentioned man and saw the guys still going at it. Shiki was having a hard time with Wallachia despite now being a normal vampire. Well, he was one of the strongest kind even before.

Ciel saw the hesitation in Arcueid's eyes and was surprised to know that this young woman cared for her even by this much. "Go on and help Tohno-kun. He is still new to this." Arcueid looked down at Ciel again and nodded. The question was in her eyes though and Ciel knew what it was. "Go on, I will be alright. I just need some rest." Arcueid carried her in her arms bridal style and Ciel couldn't help but give a little squeal. Arcueid just laughed and carried the younger girl on the far side of the big room. She braced Ciel on the wall and turned to leave but a hand stopped her. Arcueid looked at her arm where Ciel's now gloveless hand was holding her and then followed the arm to her face.

Ciel felt a little unsettled by what she was about to say but she felt it right to be said. "Th…Thank you Arcueid." She closed her eyes in part to loosen her embarrassment and in part because she was sleepy. If she had her eyes open, she would've seen the expression on Arcueid's normally childish but now a very gentle beautiful face. Ciel brought out feelings in her that no one did. Sometimes during their fights and sometimes when they were just relaxing. She felt like herself, her real self when she was around the religious girl. She wanted to be friends with Ciel and tried but always came off with the opposite effect. Being showed gratitude by this always serious Ciel gave her yet a completely different emotion that she had never felt before. She wondered what it was!

"Arcueid, some help here please?" Shiki was getting his ass kicked by Wallachia. He had tried to get an opening but the guy couldn't give him the free precious half seconds he needed. He breathed a sigh of relief when his opponent was kicked away from him by Arcueid. She was on him and it looked so easy when she did it that Shiki had to feel for himself. Why were all the girls around him insanely strong? He knew why though but that didn't stop him from wanting to them to share what they were eating with him. Wallachia was not having a pleasant night so far with is reversal of fortune. Arcueid chained him up in her unbreakable chains and signalled for Shiki to finish him off.

I a minute Wallachia was no more having faced the wrath of the possessed 15cm knife of one Shiki Tohno. Arcueid got rid of the red moon far more easily that getting it up and they went over to the soundly sleeping Ciel. Shiki went to wake her up but was stopped by Arcueid. She got down and put Ciel's limp arms around her shoulders and then pulled her towards herself to give an unconscious Ciel a piggy back ride. Needless to say Shiki was surprised by this show of caring from the vampire to his sempai. "Don't tell her when she wakes up about this, do you hear?" Shiki though that Arcueid was probably just embarrassed. He put his hands up to show that he got it loud and clear.

When they got back outside, just at that moment, the castle disappeared as if it had never been there in the first place. Arcueid was thanked by Shiki for her help and they split up with Arcueid heading for Ciel's place and Shiki going back to his sister and the others. The fog in the forest had cleared and the starts were full in the heavens. The moon stood proudly as if happy to be seen by those it was obscured from. Shiki would not forget however what sides he had seen of the two most mysterious girls in his life.

……………………………………………………………………….

(The Present)

"Oi Arcueid, wake up, we are almost there." Arcueid had fallen asleep on the plane a while back but Ciel was wide awake. She had caught a good show on the network and she was watching that. The captain had just announced that they will soon be setting for landing in Rome in quarter of an hour. "Arcueid however wasn't in the mood to be disturbed so she just turned away from Ciel. A vein grew on Ciel's head and wanted to ignore her but something kept her from stopping. She shook Arcueid some more with a little more force this time. Arcueid ignored her for a while but the shaking got to her. She mumbled something that Ciel didn't catch so she asked what she said.

"How rude, I am a princess you know...A sleeping princess. Don't you ever read fairy tales?" She turned towards Ciel but she didn't open her eyes. Ciel stopped and wondered what the blonde girl was talking about at this time. "If you want a princess to wake up, only a kiss can do it. Sigh how sad that you don't even know such a common story?" What Arcueid had said dank into Ciel's skull and she nearly face faulted. She murmured a few unintelligible words with her face going completely red. She didn't think that Arcueid was joking though and the puckered mouth she was displaying as if waiting for that kiss didn't help matters any. Arcueid was forced up from her seat however by a very stingy cheek that had suffered the wrath of Ciel's palm.

"What was that for? I was joking you know!" The princess rubbed her red cheek but she didn't retaliate. She knew that she might have gone over with that. The sight of a red faced Ciel though was a price to pay. "What's the big deal anyway? It's just a kiss. It's not like you've never kissed anyone before." Ciel just wanted her seat to open up and swallow her at the moment because she couldn't possibly get more embarrassed than right now. Arcueid saw Ciel's face going even redder and almost laughed out loud at that. It couldn't be that Ciel was still that raw, could it? "I don't believe it. You're still a..." She couldn't finish the sentence but they both knew what she was referring to.

The version of Ciel she had seen those three centuries back was the complete example of a slut. Well, she was not herself but Roa must have done countless crazy things with her body in those years. If Ciel was no longer a virgin though, it was her body and she must have found out but if she is saying that...This was so very shocking and funny at the same time. The hostess announced for the seatbelts to be applied and that saved Ciel some clear time. After clicking in her belt though, Arcueid was back on teasing Ciel about that. This kept going on until the plane touched the concrete and they were on solid land of Rome. There was a driver waiting to take them to the Vatican. When they got there, it was almost morning so they were to sleep and the head would be seeing them the next day.

"We will use the same room this time." Arcueid told the nun who was showing them to their resting quarters. She knew of them seeing as these two were legends here but them sharing a room was against all the stories they were told about them. The nun just agreed and showed them to the double rooms that were available. Ciel was of course trying to protest but Arcueid's trick on her nerves in the neck rendered her speechless and nothing came out from her throat. This was the explanation of the loud voices in the room later when Arcueid released her from her skill. The nun came back and asked them to be quite. That settled Ciel down. She wondered after some time why she was against the idea that much anyway. It wasn't like the blonde was going to bite her or anything...was she?

"You better keep your fangs to yourself vampire or you will win yourself a free ticket to Cremation City." She was changing into her light clothes and Nanako was on one of the beds, (Ciel's) reading a few books she brought with her. Ciel went to sleep in her covers and Nanako scooted over to allow her master to relax. Arcueid was already in her bed and turned to face her roommate. "You hurt my feelings Ciel. How many times do I have to tell you that I don't like drinking blood? Even if I did, yours would be the last on 'To Try' list." This of course started another war but a verbal one this time. Nanako was very right to ignore them as they were soon out of gas and comebacks.

After sometime when Nanako had started snoring, Arcueid was still awake and Ciel wasn't very sleepy too. Though she felt perfectly well Ciel's consciousness, Arcueid asked anyway if she was awake. "Yes I am, what is it?" There was a simple silence and a soft voice that Ciel had never heard Arcueid use before ghosted the dark room. "Can I sleep with you?" If it wasn't for the way the request was put forward, Ciel might have given a fit but all she did was blush a little. Even if Arcueid didn't mean it like that, she still felt it a little odd. It was probably about the recent events in Tohno-kun and Arcueid's relationship so Ciel thought no problem of it. The room had two beds that were both big enough to hold two people hence why Nanako was sleeping in Ciel's bed.

Though they were big, it would not do for three people so Ciel careful not to wake her partner, got from her bed and walked over to Arcueid's. Arcueid had thought for a moment that Ciel might not approve and she had given up hope but then she heard the ruffling of covers and Ciel's warmth and heart beat getting closer until they stood by her bed. She felt really glad having not slept well the past days alone. Recently Arcueid had been having a hard time sleeping and whenever she did, she was plagued with weird dreams that weren't so much as nightmares or memories or visions. She pulled back the covers and Ciel must have got it as she made herself comfortable in the space provided. Arcueid pulled up the covers over them and silently thanked Ciel who just nodded but was not settle at all. Her heart started beating a little faster than normal when she felt another warm body with her. She hadn't slept with any other person in the same bed for centuries but Nanako and that was a different case.

"To be continued…


	7. Chapter 7

**Melty Blood heARTS**

_By Demon Eyes_

Disclaimer: Anyone dares claim the following characters theirs, don't get surprised when Type-Moon sends Primate Murder on your ass. I am not that stupid.

Note: The Moonlit World didn't provide enough info on some 27 dead apostles so if you see anything weird in here, I made it up. There might also be a lot of information in this chapter but please bare with me. Believe me; I edited almost 1000 words from it after I visited Beast's Layer for more info. And for those who are unfamiliar, I will note a few alien words and what they mean but I suggest to visit: for more that this cause I will be using less English words. Japanese words sound cooler.

Shinso – True Ancestor.

Nanatsuya – Name of Shiki's Blade.

**Act VII**

Ciel couldn't remember when she last slept with anyone in the same bed, least of all in the same room except Nanako. She had slept alone for so long that the idea of finding anyone else in her bed would shock her so. This was the reason that she woke up early. Her whole being felt that something was out of order and thus, Ciel was forced awake. She had even forgotten that she had allowed someone to sleep in the same bed with her the night before. The other occupant of the bed would have been history as soon as Ciel's senses registered an invader had not that person had their limbs tightly wrapped around the blue haired girl, rendering her immobile. Ciel sensing her vulnerability, she was forced fully awake. She turned to look to her side and became completely still. The sight that had greeted her was a, probably, dreaming Arcueid getting ready to kiss someone with her mouth puckered up. That someone at the moment, seeing as said mouth was only inches away from hers, was Ciel herself. Ciel struggled to get herself free, but for some reason, she found that she was weaker than usual. This was strange and Ciel was confused as to why. Did she want it to happen...?

"Oh Shiki, come here and give me a kiss. Don't be shy..." It looked like she was indeed dreaming, but that wasn't on Ciel's mind at the moment. Suddenly, she seemed to get the strength that she was missing back at light speed and was able to disengage herself from the clutches of the vampire Princess. She didn't know really why but Ciel was a little angry...okay, more than a little angry for she rushed a powerful punch to the dreaming girl's head and sent her flying, over Nanako's and into the opposite wall. That was the wake up call for Arcueid who found herself in the skies, seeing stars. Her super healing took care of that little shake-up quickly although she was confused as to where she was. She was pretty sure she went to bed last night with Ciel so why was she in her own bed in the wall?! The hit had enough power to leave a dent in the wall after the blonde girl. This made it clear to Arcueid as to how she had ended up where she was. "Why did you hit me Ciel? If you wanted a fight, you could've waited until I was away. No need to be impatient." She had gotten it all wrong. " And I was having a nice dream too..."

Ciel wanted to retort with " I know" but she kept it to herself. She looked up when she saw Arcueid stretching as if getting ready for a marathon. "Well Ciel, I am a very generous person so if it's a fight you want, a fight you shall get." She flashed Ciel that smile that disturbed the Executor so. Ciel had never seen that smile being given to anyone but herself. It was usually used in their fights against each other, but something felt different. It really disturbed her. She wasn't really looking for a fight and after she had come to her senses those few seconds after she had punched Arcueid, the reason that Ciel had done it was a little unsettling. It had knocked her side ways but she was never one to turn down a chance to give the smirking vampire a beating of her life. She still had a great many debts to settle with the girl now approaching her. Ciel stood up and got in position. Nanako, who had been forced awake by Arcueid hitting the walls, stayed hidden under her covers feigning sleep but was peeking out to see what was going to happen. The sight that she saw was hard not to have a laugh about. There they stood. Ready to fight. In their pyjamas.

Arcueid went first moving so fast that no normal eyes could catch her at all. Ciel was far from normal though and she had the real movement of the vampire. Arcueid slashed at Ciel with her claws only to be blocked by three Black Keys that had suddenly appeared out of no where. The two female figures disappeared but the sound of two forces clashing was very much audible. As to be expected, a fight between beings of such power, there was great damage done to the property. This was no normal property seeing as they were inside the Vatican itself. One more hole in the wall was all it took for the superiors to come to the poor room. Arcueid and Ciel were now on the floor with Arcueid on top of Ciel with one of her hands inched away from Ciel's throat. Ciel was holding it in place which was hard considering the blonde's power. Similarly, a Black key was stooped in its wake to behead Arcueid by a slender hand with sharp nails. Ciel glared at Arcueid while the Princess smiled back. Their bodies were shaking from the tension, but they were forced apart by an invisible yet familiar force.

They both hit opposite walls and Ciel grunted in pain. This seemed not to be Arcueid's day with walls. They both stood up ready to kill the suicidal jerk that had interrupted them. They hesitated and one's anger fell a little, but the other's just got even worse. "You've got some guts to damage property in my turf girls. I keep telling you to keep you games until you have left here, but you never listen." The speaker smiled without the kindness one would expect from a smile. Her one eye, the other was blocked by patch for reasons only known to Ciel and other burial Agency members, had a fire that sent even Ciel shivering but she was not afraid to stand up to anyone. The amethyst eye bore into Ciel and it looked like the woman wanted to say something to Ciel, to mock her as she always did, and Ciel gave her an eye that always dared her to say them. It usually ended up with the woman saying them most of the time but not this time. It seemed that in Arcueid's presence, the woman always held back, but not from fear. This great force was only human although she had a reputation to everyone who knew her. If her name didn't shock the hell out of you, then her story of capturing three of the Dead Apostles surely would. Her name is Narbareck.

"You are very well aware of what comes next, aren't you?" The fearless head of the Burial Agency gave them her creepy smile again. They knew well alright. Their frowns were all the confirmation Narbareck needed. "Well, let's not waste time. Off to the cube with you. You will pay for waking up everyone so early." She turned and walked out of the now door-less doorway. She didn't turn back for she knew very well that they would be following up very soon. If they didn't, well, she smiled to herself. Not that they would dare. As long as Ciel was in the Vatican, she was to follow the demon woman's orders or...something might happen...something that she wasn't ready to face yet. The 'Cube', was a square room as its name suggests. In the past, when Ciel and Arcueid were to be going on the same mission, they would meet up in the Vatican palace but they always clawed at each other. When that happened, they would get sent to the Cube where sound or even light couldn't escape or reach. It was stinky as that was the same torture chamber where captured Apostles would be sent for 'purification.'

That was the same reason why Arcueid and Ciel hated it. They were walking in from behind Narbareck as she sauntered forward humming a crazy tune about how Vampires were the abominations of God's creation. This was supposed to get to Arcueid but the innocent young woman either paid it no heed, if she had gotten the message, or she didn't know. Ciel found herself once again being amazed at how a person who has lived and seen more horrors than anyone else could act so innocent. The next few minutes it took them to reach the cube was spent with Ciel questioning herself even more at her feelings towards the vampire. The most driving motion was anger and revenge for what happened between the two in the far past, but the others...the rest of the emotions in her were confusing. Ciel had a flashback of only minutes before and was so lost to notice a blush that came over her smooth cheeks. She was snapped out of her thoughts which left her even more confused. "Now stay here until I come to get you for your briefing." She locked them inside.

Some time later in the room, all was not as it should be. Usually, by this time, there would be fresh blood from both girls and blades; nails and skin came into contact. No one would want to be in that room with those two in it, yet, Ciel was sitting quite silently in one corner, thinking of their assignments to come. Arcueid was probably the only one in character. That girl found anything amusing. This time, she was doing what looked like acrobatics...poorly too if Ciel was honest, on chains that were so dark from the blood of their victims...Eeew! Actions weren't the only ones she was doing. Apparently, she had found this time too to practice her singing...God! She was horrible. Well...not so horrible, but Ciel would never admit that. She was actually quite good and Ciel found herself missing the singing voice so childlike. She looked up to see what was going on when she didn't hear the sounds of chains moving. Arcueid was sitting now in a corner of her own with a very alien expression on her facials. She was thinking. Arcueid was thinking about something and there was no smile on her face. Dead serious she was, if you can believed it.

Ciel didn't really know why she had asked, but she did anyway. "What are you thinking about?" Maybe Arcueid had come to her senses and started thinking about their upcoming assignment, just like Ciel was doing. She was getting worried and when she got worried, things were promising to be messy. First of all, she found it weird that they had been called from Japan seeing as a couple of Dead Apostles were there at the moment. Secondary, they always called upon Arcueid's help when they were in a very tight bind. Arcueid's thoughts however, wouldn't have gotten anymore different from hers. Ciel was still lost in her thoughts that she didn't even hear the Princess get near her.

When Arcueid spoke, so near the blue haired girl, she was startled. "Why did you hit me in the morning?"

Huh! "Huh?" The closeness wasn't the only reason Ciel was knocked sideways.

"Well, I've been thinking and it isn't like you to pull such a sucker punch so I must have done something in my sleep...maybe?" Crimson eyes met dark blue.

Well, so much for thinking that Arcueid would ever think anything serious. At least she had 'thought'. Ciel had almost forgotten about that incident now she was reminded and the confusion resurfaced. Searching for the reasons of hitting Arcueid reminded her of her strange feelings and she found that she still didn't know why she had reacted like that. She knew though, that it had something to do with Tohno-kun's name being mentioned. This brought some safe harbour in her cloudy mind. If Tohno-kun was involved then it was to be expected. She wouldn't deny that she had feelings for the cute boy. A faint blush came to her cheeks and this was not missed by the blonde nearby. Then she remembered what really happened. Arcueid about to kiss her, but calling Tohno-kun's name. Anger boiled up in her for reasons unknown yet again and she spat. "What would you have done if you woke up and found me all wrapped around you and about to kiss you all the while whispering another's name?" Ciel breathed hard. She turned away.

Arcueid's crimson eyes widened at the revelation. She thought of that some more. It didn't make any sense. The dream she was having was so different from what her actions implied. "I'm sorry Ciel." She wasn't sure what part Arcueid was apologising for. "You didn't have to hit me though." Arcueid smiled at her. Ciel couldn't say anything. She was thinking the same thing. They stayed silent for a while and after so much silence, Arcueid, forever active, could take it no more. She didn't know how long they would be in this room so she had to find a way to pass time. Seeing as Ciel was never one to strike up a conversation with her, the only other option was what they knew very well – Fight. But how to get Ciel angry! A grin spread across slightly pale skin and as if her conscious sensing danger, Ciel turned around to face Arcueid.

"Could it be that you were angry because I said Shiki's name instead of yours? That's why you hit me, right?" Arcueid got even closer to the blue eyed girl.

Ciel was at first confused at what the blonde implied but when the ball hit home, the blush was not missed by either girl. "What? What are you talking about?" She let out, a little louder than she intended. Ciel tried to get some more distance between herself and Arcueid. She was ready to send a reply as to how absurd the thought was, but found herself trapped between uncertainties. She wasn't 100 sure that Arcueid's reasoning wasn't the reason she had done what she did.

Arcueid caught the hesitation and she didn't know why, but the thought that the reason she gave might be why she was socked one, pleased her greatly. She pressed closer to the executioner and decided to push the girl until she breaks and fights back. Arcueid found that she was itching for a fight between them once again. "Could you have let me kiss you then, if I hadn't said his name?" She wisely left out 'Shiki'. Her voice got huskier as she went on. "Would you have let me kiss you had I said your name?" Only millimetres separated the lipstick-innocent lips. Ciel had never been so uncomfortable and shaken in all her life. Not even that time...the poor executioner tried to back away some more but she hit a wall. Arcueid's face took on a very alien feature and her eyes weren't gold, they were another colour that wasn't crimson either. Ciel wasn't in the right mind to think so she could not know what colour they were, but they added to her confusion.

The kiss was almost inevitable now. It seemed like Arcueid was serious about kissing her that moment. Ciel gulped and made to dive to the side with the little strength she had but the vampire was faster. She reached forward and tightly held the shoulders of a now trembling Ciel. "Le...Let me go." Ciel asked weakly. What was happening to her! Did the vampire do something to her? Arcueid was not listening however. Ciel began to panic a little. She didn't know why, but she wasn't ready to let what was about to happen, happen. She felt that so much that it scared her. Arcueid's eyes were closed and just as their breaths mingled, Arcueid's eyes were forced open. They had a little pain in them and shock. "I said, let me go damn it." Ciel had buried two Black Keys inside Arcueid's abdomen. The agent's face was emotionless. She looked like how she always did when she faced vampires and demons that were soon to be wiped out of history.

A knee sent her flying through the air to land a few feet away from Ciel who materialised more Keys. Arcueid pulled the blades away from her body with easy though with a little pain. She wanted to get Ciel angry, but maybe she had gone a little far! Still, there had been no reason to react that strongly. Was the idea of kissing the vampire that unwelcome? Arcueid felt a little pained by that thought. 'But Shiki loved my kisses.' She pouted in sorrow not even thinking that thinking of Shiki was toe root of this problem, mostly at least. "You are not getting away by playing with my...with people's emotions like that - Unforgivable." Okay, forget her earlier comment, Ciel was pissed. Ciel moved faster than Arcueid has ever seen her. The vampire Princess found herself being surprised by Ciel's actions.

Ciel was all over Arcueid and the blonde found comfort in the thought that Nanako was with Narbareck somewhere at that moment. No body would want to be in Ciel's sights at the moment with her conceptual weapon by her side. Not that Ciel was nothing without that damned scripture, not at all. The girl knew how to use those sharpie things. A blade hit her in the shoulder only to explode and send her falling backwards. Arcueid actually hated those knives more. They did stuff no normal blades could. She was getting manhandled and even though she fought it really strongly, she felt her deep desires coming out to the surface. "Ciel...Stop." She tried to get the girl to calm down. If she continued to make her lose blood, then she would lose control and even a little slip could mean a lot of danger.

Ciel ignored her though. She disappeared in one of the many dark corners in the room and instantly, eighteen Keys hit Arcueid. She coughed blood and tried to pull the blades out as fast as she could to avoid losing more blood. As she pulled the last blade out of her thigh, a flash of blue caught her eye and she turned. Ciel was coming down on her and it looked like she was ready to behead Arcueid. She had had enough though and her control was slipping. She was very thirsty and no one was in sight except Ciel. Her eyes began to turn an eerie bright gold that lit in the slightly dark room.

"ENOUGH."

Arcueid activated her Reality Marble and restrained Ciel's limbs. The blue haired girl gasped and she seemed to come back to her senses. The two stared at each other for a while. Ciel blinked at the girl, who was slightly lower than her, seeing as she was suspended in the air. Arcueid's golden eyes turned even brighter and she clutched at her one eye. She let out a gruff and she seemed to be in pain, but her wounds had already healed. "Are...Are you okay Arcueid?" Ciel found herself asking the question. She didn't have a clue as to why she was worried about the girl. She was about to kill her herself, not that she would ever be able to, but they had never fought to their limits. Still, her anger at the blonde vanished when she had inkling as to what was happening. The vampire girl was losing control and it was her doing. She had used the forbidden effect of the Black Keys that was effective against unnatural beings.

Arcueid's one free eye came up to look at Ciel and the blue eyed girl gasped at the fire behind it. Arcueid extended a clawed hand towards Ciel and the captive sucked in her breath waiting for the inevitable pain. Her hand stopped in its track when the doors to the room opened to reveal Narbareck and Nanako. "Come on you two. It's time for briefing." She turned around and left, not even paying any attention to the positions the girls were in. They were always clawing at each other's throats anyway, so she might have cared if they were sitting quietly about perhaps. Nanako sensed that there was something a little off so she stayed and sent a worried glance towards her master.

"Are you alright Master?" Nanako asked worriedly. The girl was really afraid of Arcueid.

"I'm alright Nanako. Everything is fine." Ciel turned to look at Arcueid with pleading eyes. She was a little relieved when she saw the golden eyes were back to their normal crimson and Arcueid let the chains disappear, only to look to Ciel with worried eyes and the fear that she might have injured her – badly. Ciel turned away from her and walked towards Nanako to go and follow her leader. Arcueid paced to catch up to her and laid a visibly shaky hand on Ciel slender but firm shoulder. Ciel turned to Arcueid and found her looking at her with those rare expressions that she never saw being directed to another. She knew that Arcueid was probably going to apologise, but Ciel wouldn't let her. "It's alright Arcueid. I was the one who went a little too far. There is no need to apologise." Ciel had a feeling that she should apologise to the vampire, but she squashed it down. She hadn't yet sunk to that level yet.

Soon, they entered the room that they had been using as the briefing room for years now and all the other members of the Burial Agency were there. As soon as Arcueid laid one foot in the room, she wasn't surprised at all to find herself ambushed by a small form. Glancing down, she found the most expected culprit there in her bosom, giving her a crushing hug. It was a young boy who looked about ten or one year more, but never let the looks deceive you. This boy was one of the 27 Dead Apostles. He was number five of the seven. His name...? "Merm Solomon, it's so good to see you. How have you been?" Arcueid bent down to return the hug, fiercely. She loved the boy greatly. In all the 27 Apostles, he was the only one who she really got along with. Well, there was her guardian, but he was never emotional.

"Bored Princess but I'm glad that we get to go on the same mission this time. It's been so long since we went together." They hugged some more much to the others' disgust. Most of the executors didn't like the vampire...much. And seeing as almost half of them were Dead Apostles, enemies of the Brunestuds, well, seeing one of their own acting like that with their enemy didn't make matters any easier. The two ignored the looks and muttering however. Merm seemed to catch Ciel's eye then and she disengaged from the Princess to go greet her one time partner. "Hello Ciel. It's been a while since The Forest of Einnashe. How have you been?" Ciel didn't like the kid but she didn't hate him. She didn't like any of the Dead Apostles and vampires. During their mission to destroy the Seventh Apostle, they had bonded a little, but only to the point of Ciel not hating him. She still didn't like him.

"If you are quite done catching up, it's time to get to the reasons as to why you're all here. I am sure some of you have met him, but I will introduce to you one of the legends in history, the Wizard Marshal Zelretch, he will tell you of your mission this time." The said man entered but he was greeted by very few claps. Those were from the apostles to be exact. The man standing in front of everyone was a legend for one thing and one thing only. He had destroyed the Crimson Moon – The half of the origin of the Brunestuds. Nature had fused with the great alien being known to reside on the moon and created the perfect being. Or was it the antigen created by mother earth in its protection! No one knew exactly how but the man had accomplished the task though without a price. He had become a Dead Apostle himself during the confrontation.

"Good morning. Good to see everyone is still here, well except one." The real No.5 of the Burial Agents was killed by Merm because he wanted to go with Ciel on the mission to eliminate Einnashe instead. "I come bearing bad news, very bad news indeed. Long before Arcueid here even came to life, the Vatican had been doing research on the first True Ancestor – Brunestud of the Crimson Moon – Type-Moon. The Ultimate One. There were no notes anywhere of her being exterminated when she fell so research was done. Around three hundred years ago, a conclusion was reached that she had gone into an eternal sleep after she had defeated her first victim – The Dark six." There were gasps in the audience. They all knew of the first Dead Apostle. Apparently, she is the reason why there is something called the Red Sea. She wiped the entire region off the map. "When the first True Ancestor came back to her senses for a while, she defeated The Dark Six but not destroyed her for she was very weak from suppressing her urge for blood. When she was sure she had weaken The Dark Six enough for her to be stoppable, she went into her sleep."

"Now the bad news: The Dark Six has been regenerating, but we never knew of her whereabouts. Apparently, the Mage's Association knew but they decided to keep the information to themselves. After losing three of their best men, they saw it appropriate to contact us. They were killed by The Dark Six. She has completed her regeneration cycle without our knowledge. The worst is that she is rumoured to bring all the other dead Apostles together once active." He gave Merm and the other three Apostles present; Enhance – The Knight Of Vengeance, Gransurg Black-more – Lord Of The Black Wing and El-Nahat – No.01 of the Burial Agency. They all felt it. It was like a shift in the atmosphere, for vampires. Zelretch was sure they felt the 'calling' as he did too. He was one of the 27, but he was neither good nor bad. "Arcueid, I suggest you contact Rizo and tell him to join you as soon as possible. I am sure you know what is to come now. Which brings me to the worst..." Ciel was having a bad feeling about all this. "It is only speculation, but we assume that someone broke into The Ultimate One's castle and woke her up."

There were murmurs, well, not quite murmuring but the room was lit up. Ciel decided to ask the question that seemed to be on everyone's minds. "Is it possible for anyone to get into the True Ancestors' castle? And if this Ultimate One was awoken, then why call it an eternal sleep if you can wake up?" Things were not making any sense. Ciel chanced a glance in the direction of Arcueid but the look on the Shinso's face was unreadable – Disturbing, considering that that face always had one or more expressions on it. What were they up against? What did the Wizard mean when he talked to Arcueid? The blue haired girl returned her attention to the speaker. Marshal was looking into his small note book then he looked up when Ciel finished her question to answer her.

"As I said, we are only assuming. It couldn't have been Dark Six because we are quite aware of the relationship between those two. And as you said, it is quite difficult to digest the thought that an Ancestor who has gone into an eternal sleep could wake up. In our study, we have concluded that in this case, since the Ancestor had fallen once, she would have the characteristics of the shito. Were they to be given blood in their sleep, nothing is quite certain that they wouldn't react to the blood. I won't go into details, but not just any blood would do. Here is where we come to suspect that Altrouge Brunestud had something to do with that seeing as she is the daughter of Type-Moon and Type-Mercury – O R T." The audience would have won prizes for 'Most Shocked Expressions'. All those present knew of Altrouge and the most physically powerful Apostle O R T. What they didn't know is how they were connected to the first True Ancestor and themselves.

"Shit." El-Nahat cursed under his breath.

"Fuck!" Replied Enhance. He was all for defeating the 27 Dead Apostles but he didn't sign up for this. He had been wise to not confront O R T when he knew very well where the being resided. Everyone knew, but seeing as he didn't really seem to hunt any more humans after a certain period, they wisely stayed away from him. Soon they would have no choice but to confront him if he decides to show himself, and he will seeing as his love(?!) has been awakened.

"Indeed. I agree with you completely. We are, as a matter of fact, fucked! There has been nothing out of the ordinary so far and we predict that they won't show until they have regrouped so you have one week only to prepare. We also need to get the Mage's Association to cooperate with us on this one on our part. In a week, we shall all meet at Atlas in Egypt. Apparently, the Mages lost their people somewhere in East Africa. That is their territory so we shall make our plans from there. This is the greatest war we shall ever face friends. Be prepared. That's all." He replaced his notebook in his coat and walked over to Arcueid who was looking at the floor in thought. "Arc, could I talk with you for a while?" He asked softly. Arcueid was like a grand daughter to him. Arcueid looked up at him and slowly nodded. The rest left the room to the two them for everyone had very important decisions to make.

Once they were alone, Marshal was the first one to speak. "Arcueid, I won't go into the talk, but you must be careful. I have seen what's to come and it isn't pretty. The First is totally fallen this time. She has been awoken by blood and she will want to change nature to suite her. For that you have to be out of the picture. I predict they will come after you first so be careful." His features that had hardened softened a little bit. "Make sure you have Rizo by your side at all times and have that boyfriend of yours with you too. His ability is very unique. He could come in handy. I will ask Ciel to be there for you too." Arcueid gave him a look which screamed 'crazy'. "I have my ways of persuading her. You just wait." He gave a mysterious smile. "So, how have you been all this time? Anything knew happened since we last met?"

"You already know what was going on. Why do you still ask?" He raised his eyebrows. "You mentioned my boyfriend and I don't remember telling you about Shiki." She made an 'O' but his face didn't show any shame in being caught. She sighed. He was always like that. "Nothing really exciting happened that you don't know of. And in case you didn't know, we're taking some time off, Shiki and I."

"Have you been alright then? I may have seen, but I don't know how you feel about all this." He laid his hand on her shoulder and caressed it a little.

"Yeah, I have had a chance to hang out with Ciel. Okay, we may have spent most of our time fighting, but I was strangely happy when I was with her." Arcueid let a smile on her face and she actually seemed happy. Zelretch raised an eyebrow. "Happier than even when I was with Shiki." Another one joined the other up there. Things were getting interesting in more ways than one. He grinned to himself. He actually didn't feel safe letting this girl in the presence of a guy who could kill her so easily, though not destroy her. That was the reason why he spied on them with his Third Eye. He actually almost appeared to destroy Shiki that first time he had sliced the Princess up in many pieces, but Shiki's ability intrigued him. The only reason why he still lives and Arcueid had also gotten attached to him.

"Well, that is good. It will be even better then if you were together in the missions to come." He waited to see if Arcueid wanted to add something.

"Ermm...About that thing. I would like for you to release it. I think I will need it." Zelretch looked at her hard. She was serious.

"Are you sure? I won't be able to do it some time soon. I will need all of my strength in the coming fight." Arcueid gazed at him smugly. He had answered his own question. "Okay, okay. I get it. Fine, I will do it tomorrow night. I have to stay here for a while to take care of things first." He reached in one of his deep pockets in the coat and muttered to himself, "I am not gonna get any sleep tonight." Then he said out loud, "Here are your tickets to Japan. Try to see if you can get more help from all those friends of yours back there. I know they are special. In a week, I will call you to let you know of the flight prepared to take you to Atlas. Well then, till next week." He patted a blonde head and smiled affectionately. Arcueid knew no one but herself had ever seen that side of him. She closed her eyes and got lost in the feelings she was getting from the touch. He was the best thing to a parent she had ever gotten. "Be careful my dear. If you feel more than you can handle when 'it' happens, just do that sign I taught you in the sky and I will come, okay?"

Arcueid nodded her head and she missed the hand when Zelretch turned to leave and walked out of the room. She sighed and walked back to her room she shared with Ciel and Nanako. She found Ciel gathering her things and Merm was there on the bed whining about something. "Do you really have to go now? I wanted to play with Arc some more." He turned when he heard the doors open. He ran towards the princes and hugged her thighs closely. "Arcueid, please say that you are staying. I want to spend more time with you." Arcueid patted the dark head below her and smiled a bit uneasily.

"I'm sorry Merm, but we have to leave. We have things to do before we meet up in Egypt. We shall spend more time together there. I will make sure we are in the same group, okay?"

"You promise?" the look was so not what one of the 27 Dead Apostles should make. Arcueid felt like eating him right there. She didn't eat him but she gave him a fierce hug.

"Yes. I promise. Why don't you come with us to the airport?" The boy lit up like a bulb. Arcueid didn't have anything packed so she just stood there holding Merm's hand and waited for Ciel to finish whatever she was doing. Were it any other day, she would've asked Ciel to stay one more night but not this time. She didn't want what was going to happen the next day happen to happen when she was in the Vatican. Most definitely not. She also hoped that she hadn't made a mistake, but she knew she would need it to be able to have a slight chance in what was to come. The last time she and Altrouge met, things didn't end pretty. Now she was going to be meeting Type-Moon. Things were not looking good at all.

………………………………………………………………….

(Tohno Mansion)

Ring "Good afternoon, Tohno residence, Shiki Tohno speaking." Shiki and the others were seated on the dining table having lunch. He was the man in the house so he decided to pick up – much to Hisui-chan's dismay though. There was an extension in the room so the others could hear Shiki talking. "Ciel-sempai. How are you? Is everything okay?" A pause as Ciel answered. "I'm fine. Everyone is fine here as well. How is Arcueid? I hope she isn't giving anyone trouble." He answered. There was silence again as Ciel talked to him. "Of...of course I knew that Arcueid, I was just joking." Those on the table could hear the nervousness in his voice. Arcueid had been defending herself it seemed. The conversation went on. "Oh I see. At ten pm. Right. Okay then sempai, we will see you soon. Bye." Shiki replaced the receiver at the set and went to sit down. Gazes were sent his way as expected. Nothing was let go by in this damn house.

His sister's was the most piecing. He decided to drop the pins before they hurt him. "That was Ciel-sempai. She was saying that they will be returning tomorrow and that we should pick them up at 10 pm." He resumed his meal but before his fork made it to his lips, he felt the gazes on him still. "She will explain everything when they get here too." He hoped they would let him go with that but alas. "That is all she said, honest." The gazes were getting to him and couldn't help, but blush a little.

"Oh? Then why are you getting flustered Shiki?" It was his sensei that had spoken. Shiki wasn't sure of how he felt about her at the moment. That comment was on the list of 'Not to say in the presence of one Akiha Tohno'. Sure enough...

"Yes Nii-san. Please enlighten us. You still haven't made it clear what your relationship is with that devil now. We are all ears." Akiha was glad that Aoko had started this. 'She might not be so bad after all. We might just get along yet.' She thought to herself. Kohaku just giggled away at her seat while Hisui continued eating away silently. Shiki had finally convinced the twins to sit with the rest and eat together. Akiha had disagreed at first, but she too was under the mercy of the Tohno gland. Now they all sat around the table looking to the entire world like a normal family. This was anything but normal though that goes without saying.

"Shiki wasn't sure if he could name all the disadvantages one had in living in a mansion full of girls. They were mean, mean and mean. Okay, that summed it all up. "Arcueid and I took some time off. I really don't understand it either but she decided it."

"Oh! Are you okay with that?" Aoko asked tentatively.

"Yes, I am actually. Maybe she saw something I didn't, but I feel like I'm less...if that makes any sense." He finished. All present looked at him. Even Hisui paused to look at him. He actually seemed less affected. He said his thank you and got up from the table to take his plate to the sinks. He would soon be going out with Arihiko and Satsuki to the movies. He went back to the table to ask his sister for permission. His request was granted easily. It seemed that Akiha was in a good mood. He decided to leave before she changed her mind though. After a quick goodbye, he went upstairs to change and re-freshen up.

……………………………………………

"Ah, my nerdy friend, you've finally showed up!" Inui greeted Shiki. The new comer waved to his two friends. He and Yumizuka were standing right outside the cinema they were going to. Shiki asked Arihiko why he always called him 'nerdy'. "Well, you always wear glasses and you aren't in any sports clubs, so..." The boy knew that Shiki's body was weak so that had been the reason why he wasn't in any sports clubs, but apparently, he had forgotten that. Not that Shiki would ever get annoyed by that. He liked the guy despite all his weird behaviour.

"Good afternoon Yumizuka, too bad that Sion couldn't join us." Satsuki had asked Sion to join them on their day out, but she apparently had things to do back in Egypt. Shiki wondered some more what was going on. First, it was Arcueid and Ciel being called back to their superiors and now it was Sion! He had a bad feeling about the future. Sion still hadn't found the cure to her 'curse' even after meeting Arcueid and at one time she had even decided to leave town for good, but Yumizuka had somehow convinced her to stay. They were getting along quite well. Shiki finding out that his classmate was a vampire was quite a shock. It was more shocking than finding Ciel about to 'erase' her though Shiki had begged his sempai not do it.

"I am good Tohno-kun. Thank you for asking." A blush came to Satsuki's cheeks. Shiki wondered how a vampire could still blush having read and seen all those movies about them, but this was one weird town. Satsuki may have found someone else but she was still a little uneasy in the presence of her classmate. Also, he knew of her real relationship with the mage and she couldn't help wondering what he thought of that. "A...Anyway, what movies are you going to watch guys?" She timidly changed the subject. Had it been weeks before, going to movies with Tohno-kun would've been like a dream come true. Now, it felt so natural like she was going with another girl friend.

"Well, Yumizuka, you will love this one. I saw the trailer and think it will be to all our taste. Now if there are no questions, off to the movies we go. I've even got the tickets to the first one so no queues for us." He grinned to the two as he waved the tickets to them and headed for the inside. The building was swarming with students and other adults. It was weekend after all. Shiki shook his head as Arihiko greeted every single girl he came in contact with. Shiki and Satsuki followed their leader into the unknown movie that promised to be great.

It was horror movie. Shiki should've known. It was about a possessed TV. One person was watching a horror movie on it and suddenly, zombies were getting out of the TV. So typical, but poor Satsuki was shaken and struggled to hold Shiki's hand. When one guy held a chainsaw to cut up one zombie bride, Satsuki gave in and clutched at Shiki's shirt. Arihiko was having a thrill of a lifetime there on the other side of Shiki. Then zombie dogs started appearing in the movie. What was interesting was that these dogs were not slomo walkers. They were fast, strong and deadly. People died so fast in their wake and Arihiko was so disturbingly enjoying that. Shiki got a very déjà vu feeling from the scenes however and he didn't know what until said dogs literally jumped out of the screen to land on the platform in front of his eyes.

Screams filled the hall as a few people who liked taking short gun in the cinema were added to Today's Menu. To prove his suspicions further, the shadow of a man came in after the dogs and it was unmistakeably, 'him'. People started for the emergency exists. Shiki shared a knowing look with Satsuki. "Arihiko, come with me." She said as she took his hand to pull him towards the exit. He dumbly let the girl drag him to safety. The place was fast emptying so Shiki made his way to the front where his one time enemy stood. That pale and scarred face was unmistakeable. It was Chaos, but how many lives does this guy have! Well, it didn't matter. He would keep killing him whenever he came back until he never came back. He drew Nanatsuya coolly and flung it at one of the beasts that was about to jump the last escapee. As soon as it came into contact with the wolf-like creature, the animal started cracking up and moments later, it was dust. He went to pick up his trusty buddy.

"I see you are even sharper than the last time we met. You weren't the only one who changed though and while I am aching to show you your place, today is not that day. We have business with you." Chaos called his beasts back and jumped to land on a high beam somewhere. Shiki followed his movements and gasped at what met his eyes. It was more than seeing his own double up there that gave him a shock. Well, it wasn't exactly his double. The guy standing there was much more different than he was. He was so...mean looking. His eyes screamed 'Death'. Even Shiki shivered when he looked into them. How did he survive without glasses though? The person next to his doppelganger was what really shocked him. He would never forget that face as long as he lives. That face, that still to this day, haunts his dreams. The last face he saw without the 'lines' and without his glasses, the face that started it all. The Crimson Master, Kishima Kouma, the killer of his real father.

"Hello Shiki. We meet gain, in more ways than one. But fear not, I am not who you think I am, well not really. Perhaps telling you that the last time we met was at school with the Shinso and that demon girl from the church." School? Demon girl? Did he mean Ciel? No! It couldn't be. Was he dreaming or something? Roa saw the look in the young man's eyes and knew that he had figured it out. "Yes, it's me Roa. Though I have many reasons why I want to kill you, today I come asking for your help. Join me Shiki Tohno. Join me if you want to live to see another year." He gasped visibly. The three other men waited patiently for his answer.

………………………………………………………………

(The Vatican)

Three nuns were out in the garden watering some plants when suddenly, the atmosphere that was warm and light with sun light, turned cold and dark as if it were night. They instinctively looked up to the sky and exchanged confused glances. The sun was no where to be seen. There were no clouds that might have obscured their view. Where the sun should have been, stood the moon in all its dark glory. It wasn't the rock that they were used to seeing, but a swirl of dark energy. They turned their gazes to the sounds that originated from in front of them. They couldn't see more than ten meters forward. It was as if the darkness was alive and moving towards them. They started to back away picking up their pace with each step. The last words they heard were. "Go Primate Murder." Followed by the roar of a big dog. Did dogs roar?!

Seconds later in the underground facility that held the captives, all was suddenly silent. Inside one of the holding cells, a dark figure appeared to one of them in which a tube containing something akin to vapour resided. The lithe figure seemed to walk right through the seals and instantly it was near the tube. It spoke in a feminine voice that seemed familiar to those who knew a certain person. "It's time, Stanrobe Calhin. Your presence is requested."

To Be Continued...


End file.
